‘I retrained as a counsellor at 50. Now I see the transformative power of listening in helping others,’ says volunteer manager Sean

Posted on 11 August 2025 • Career planning, Charity sector, Volunteering

OU Psychology and Counselling graduate Sean went on to study for his CPCAB diploma in Integrative Counselling after he graduated. Below, he shares how volunteering for the Wren Project, a charity offering listening support to people with autoimmune disease, led to a rewarding career as Volunteer Manager for the charity.

Dive into the Wren Project’s current volunteering opportunities. The Wren Project takes on volunteers from a range of study disciplines and doesn’t require a professional counselling qualification. This makes it an excellent choice to gain experience, for example, for BSc Psychology students who aren’t qualified counsellors or considering counselling training after they graduate.

Explore the wide range of career pathways for OU psychology and counselling students and discover how you can find volunteering opportunities, how they can help your career and how to use your volunteering experience in CVs and job applications.

The Open University changed my life. At the age of 50, I decided to change my career and embark upon a degree in Psychology with Counselling. I had little idea what to expect. When I scored 82 for my first TMA, I emailed my tutor to thank her. “I have always been a C student,” I explained. She replied: “not anymore, Sean.”

This helped me overcome the first hurdle of my own self-belief. Over the next six years, the TMAs came thick and fast – they never got easier, but as my critical thinking developed, so did my ambition to become a counsellor.

After graduating, I decided to study for my CPCAB diploma in Integrative Counselling. My counselling tutor suggested that I could apply my knowledge and develop my listening skills by volunteering with the Wren Project. This amazing charity supports people living with the complexities of an autoimmune disease diagnosis with active listening support. There are six million people in the UK with an autoimmune disease and for many, it is a life-altering, chronic condition. Frequently misdiagnosed, often invisible, and almost always misunderstood, autoimmune diseases can be totally debilitating.

The people who apply for our support, our ‘Wrens’, tell our volunteers about their experience of being unseen and unheard. They talk about their struggles maintaining relationships, jobs and completing simple, everyday tasks. They speak of loneliness and ostracism; of fear for their future, loss.

I have seen first-hand the transformative power of active listening. Three years on, working as the charity’s Volunteer Manager, I am able to support our wonderful volunteers while I complete the last part of my training to become a fully qualified member of the BACP.

My degree has given me the skills of critical thinking and an understanding of qualitative and quantitative methods. This has led to me co-authoring the Wren Project’s research into the lived experience of people with autoimmune diseases.

The OU gave me the path to a second life, filled with the promise of helping others to live their lives in a meaningful way. The Wren Project has made good on that promise. Please consider joining us as a Listening Volunteer. Not only will you be making a difference to the lives of others, but I promise you the experience will enhance your own life by broadening your perspectives.