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Should I quit? Volunteering experiences being Neurodivergent.

23 replies

caughtmetwice · 31/10/2026 19:38

Hi All,

(Sorry, lengthly post).

I feel a bit pathetic writing this, but just need perspective before I pull the plug. I currently volunteer for a large organisation once a week. The organisation is going through a period of change at the moment and they don't have the staff to always be on hand to train their volunteers all the time.

I have already had a clash with an older volunteer who told me I was doing 'everything wrong', and completely dismissed everything I had learnt from the volunteer coordinator. I then left because I couldn't handle how everyone did things differently over the smallest of tasks.

I was encouraged to come back and have been back two weeks now and feel like I am drowning. There is so much to learn and do, and I feel like screaming and crying inside all at the same time. Things feel chaotic and I am going from one task to another, without mastering the basics for one thing.

The job description feels different to what I signed up for. I am now on the phones and I hate it. I want to be on reception but I am now shadowing half the day there because they want other volunteers to be on reception. I feel they are putting more and more responsibility on me and keep telling me "you're doing a great job" but I am a people pleaser and I don't feel like they truly understand how challenging it is for me. I am neurodiverse, so I completely understand this is probably a 'me' thing. I left early last week, and end up having an ADHD crash the next day because all my energy is so depleted on trying to master what they want me to do, whilst masking to please others.

I am not new to volunteering. I have been volunteering for another organisation for a year and really enjoy it. I have structure, movement, I enjoy the purpose of the organisation and feel like I am making such a big difference.

Should I quit whilst I'm ahead with this one? The name of the organisation would look amazing on my C.V, but I've only been there for 3 months so can see how this may be frown on with future employers. I would also lose another reference.

OP posts:
Maisymouse2 · 01/11/2026 03:57

Older volunteer isn't in charge and learn to ignore them or mention the the co ordinator to get them put in there place, a common issue with oder volunteers..think they arenjn charge or can bully other's.
Talk to your co oridinator if you want to contuine so you are learning each skill...i am sure the others need the skills to but is it moved each week to fairly alternate tasks?
Whatever you choose let it be knownnof you want to contuine on kor if it is to much leave.
How it look's isn't important, making sure you keave feeling happy and some fullfilment is.

Gingerkittykat · 01/11/2026 03:58

I'm also ND and think you should leave a role where you feel miserable, and it's putting a lot of pressure on you to the point that you are crashing afterwards. I think 3 months is enough time for you to have given it a chance to know that it is more than the stresses of being new.

I would maybe try to talk to the volunteer coordinator before you leave, just in case they can make adjustments for you.

ValleyofHumiliation · 01/11/2026 04:06

How many hours a week are you spending volunteering?

WhatNoRaisins · 01/11/2026 07:02

I get that there's always a lot to learn in a new role and it can take time to get used to things. However there's only so much angst you should put yourself through when giving your time for free.

rookiemere · 01/11/2026 07:42

Gosh that sounds like they expect a lot from their volunteers. Is there a paid coordinator you can speak to ? If there is speak to them and tell them your required learning style and that you would prefer to do reception only for the time being, like you had been told you would. If there isn’t then I would leave before you do your health real damage. I wouldn’t include it for reference purposes if you quit.

They have a bit of a nerve putting you under such pressure as a volunteer. There’s a real volunteer shortage and putting a new person under pressure is not really acceptable. It’s definitely them not you.

Thecomfortador · 01/11/2026 07:44

I gave up doing any volunteering decades ago. It's just not worth it, they sound like they don't appreciate you and not very well organised. I'd just call it a day.

DeutscheBahnTicket · 01/11/2026 07:45

Definitely leave if it's making you miserable. Volunteering is meant to be enriching, not stressful and adding conflict.

I do litter picking and also bake for a charity. I like it as I feel I am doing my bit but I don't have to slot into a group of other people and do it on my own.

rookiemere · 01/11/2026 08:35

Actually scrap my earlier advice, you brought it up before and things didn’t get any better, I would follow your gut and leave.
If you wanted a lovely volunteering experience with a clearly defined role and other supportive volunteers, I would highly recommend parkrun. Unfortunately it might be tricky to get a reference from it though as it’s weekly volunteering rather than ongoing , but worth asking.

TeensNoMore · 01/11/2026 08:55

It seems to me OP you are volunteering as you don't yet feel ready for work but you are trying to build a CV?
In which case maybe have one more go with the coordinator? Explain your difficulties and ask for what you need. If you don't get it then leave.
At least you are learning more about what you can / can't do.

Smartiepants79 · 01/11/2026 09:23

TeensNoMore · 01/11/2026 08:55

It seems to me OP you are volunteering as you don't yet feel ready for work but you are trying to build a CV?
In which case maybe have one more go with the coordinator? Explain your difficulties and ask for what you need. If you don't get it then leave.
At least you are learning more about what you can / can't do.

I would agree with this if that is your goal.
It’s not clear from what you’ve said quite what the role is or what ‘jobs’ you’re having to learn but I would just like to pick up on one small aspect of what you wrote. It s perfectly fine and normal for different individuals to do the same task in a different way as long as the end result is the same. People learn and doing different ways, as long as they are achieving the thing they’ve been tasked with and not putting themselves or anyone else at risk of harm then how they achieve it is their choice.

SquirrelSoShiny · 01/11/2026 09:25

TeensNoMore · 01/11/2026 08:55

It seems to me OP you are volunteering as you don't yet feel ready for work but you are trying to build a CV?
In which case maybe have one more go with the coordinator? Explain your difficulties and ask for what you need. If you don't get it then leave.
At least you are learning more about what you can / can't do.

This is good advice.

What is making it so difficult? What is your specific role? I have ADHD and have specific challenges around e.g. Admin, planning dates and times. In a large organisation there may well be a different role you can try.

Branleuse · 01/11/2026 09:28

Its a volunteer role and it sounds chaotic and unsupportive. I think you have nothing to lose at this point by telling them how you feel, and what you need to make it work.

Clear instructions and training in correct method and consistency.

That woman who tells you youve done everything wrong but doesn't help you get it right, is someone to ignore

rookiemere · 01/11/2026 10:46

I think some of the replies are intimating that the challenges OP is facing would be similar to those in actual work, but to me it sounds a lot worse than that. In work there should be one team leader and/or trainer and various points in the probation period to raise questions about role profile and tasks.

This volunteering role sounds like the wild west where bossy volunteers who have been there for a long while think they get to dictate to others what and how to do things. It’s particularly inappropriate if OP disclosed her neurodiversity and almost left due to the challenges to have her switching roles before she has mastered the first thing.

Also some work places are great, some are rubbish. If people are in a rubbish one they aren’t generally advised to reflect on their own failings, they’re usually told to get out and find somewhere different. This should apply in spades for a volunteering position.

WhatNoRaisins · 01/11/2026 10:58

A lot of volunteering is really badly managed in a way that's less likely in a workplace. I think it's also tricky if you're only volunteering once a week and with different people each time. Those things are going to make it harder to learn what to do.

Shteen · 01/11/2026 11:02

If it's making you miserable you don't need anyone's permission to quit. You need to look after yourself.

I think it's possible this one might be salvageable, perhaps if you could find someone to coach you through it, be a sounding board or neurodiversity coach. If there are lots of different ways to do things it follows that there should be multiple ways to do things right. Work does tend to expect a degree of self sufficiency and if you have multiple ways of doing it now it should be possible to find a way and stick to it. Obviously if this sounds nothing like the situation you're dealing with then ignore it. But consider whether the situation might be that there are more "shades of grey" than you a comfortable with, but maybe you could find a way through to something that works for you.

It can be difficult to deal with "little Hitlers" who want to boss you around. I remember working with someone like this and it helped me enormously when my boss pulled me aside to say they understood the challenges, and I was doing a fantastic job. You need to position yourself in your own head as equal to them not inferior, while also picking your battles.

bababamama · 01/11/2026 11:09

Do please remember though op that they are not a specific training organisation to get nd people into work, they may have limited experience of this (there are orgs that do this) and whilst you may enjoy being on reception, perhaps everyone does hence only doing half a day. I volunteer on top of my paid job and I can’t always do the role i enjoy the most, just the way it is, I’d rather be out the back but often I’m in the front as I’m actually good at it, i realise though that they put me where the org needs me most

caughtmetwice · 01/11/2026 12:08

Thank you for all the replies. To answer some of the questions, I volunteer 8 hours a week, so it's one full day.

I have ADHD, and suspected Autism (but definitely ADHD). I can't handle being in stuffy office environments very well and I feel micromanaged. The funny thing is, I suspect the volunteer coordinator herself is ND. I feel so frustrated when she is goes from one thing to another without checking I have mastered what she has told me. I don't think she realises when I struggle or when I look upset/frustrated. The overwhelm I feel is massive, and my brain can't take it all in. It's just one big massive puddle. then a big crash the next day where I can't do the simplest of tasks. I feel pathetic.

I don't know what I'm doing from one day to the next until I arrive. I was enjoying being on reception and speaking to different people independently. I think I thrive on autonomy and structure.

I think I'm going to be honest with the coordinator. She is also new, so I understand that she is also learning but seems to know exactly what she is doing (albeit seems so chaotic).

In terms of jobs etc, I do have a full-time independent job but i wanted to get out of it update my skills. Now, I feel like a failure. I do still volunteer for the other organisation which I love, so at least that's a positive.

OP posts:
SmolBlackKitten · 01/11/2026 12:23

You're not even paid for the bother of it.
I would run out of there and never look back.

SquirrelSoShiny · 01/11/2026 12:26

Tell her you will do reception or look elsewhere. Life is too short.

rookiemere · 01/11/2026 13:03

OP you are articulate, self aware and very cognisant of the possible impact of your ND. You’re also very hard on yourself.
This isn’t a you problem it’s a them thing particularly if you don’t encounter these issues in your job or your other volunteering activities. I don’t know what being on the phones involves, but as I am now in a telephony role myself I know it can be stressful as you never know what you’re going to get and it’s tough when you can’t answer all their questions. I work part time and find it hard enough to remember everything after a 4 day gap, only doing it weekly would make it even tougher.

If you’re working ft and volunteering elsewhere you don’t need this for references. Give it one more try if you must but be prepared to leave by EOY if it doesn’t change

BertieBotts · 01/11/2026 13:17

I'm also diagnosed ADHD. I've done a bit of volunteer work and a bit of casual/student type work.

TBH I think a lot of this is just volunteering. Volunteer work attracts a wide variety of people for a wide variety of reasons, some of which overlap quite heavily with not having much paid work experience, which again, can be for various reasons. But for that reason it can be a totally different experience to working somewhere that everyone is on the payroll, where as rookie says, there would be a consistent hierarchy/structure and probably set procedures. The entire organisation being chaotic doesn't implode everything as fast as it would if it was a profit making business, and it can be a bit frustrating if you can see how things could be made smoother or more efficient but someone is stuck in their way of doing things. I also think it's really common for people who work long term in volunteer organisations to be ND, whether it's because of the strong sense of justice, struggling with paid work positions, something else, or a bit of all three.

First of all I would say 3 months is not too short at all for a volunteer position if you're wanting it primarily for CV kudos. So if this is the only thing keeping you there, then go. You will have learnt some things about that organisation which you can take to future interviews etc. I don't see why you would lose a reference? They're not going to say something horrible about you. Most references these days are literally just "Yes X worked here between these dates and was not fired". You can make up any excuse at all to leave whether you say it's just not a good fit for you, or you have too many other things going on right now and need to let this one go, or make up another position (or actually get another position to go to).

OTOH it might be a useful thing to persist, in terms of gaining experience in dealing with a situation which is not immediately easy, and working with different communication styles. One of my tendencies that I've noticed and I see this a lot on ADHD support forums, so I think it's a common pattern for ADHDers - is that when something starts to get a bit tricky, I tend to catastrophise, build it up into this huge thing in my head and get convinced that everything is an unfixable disaster and I may as well quit now. However, the other thing I've learnt about myself is that when I experience this and there's a short delay on me being able to bail out, like if I'm completely failing at getting DC to sleep and I text DH and he says "I can come in in 15 mins" 9/10 the issues all resolve within that short delay period and I can actually handle whatever it is after all.

So it made me think maybe I just experience that kind of feeling when it's all about to get better anyway. And then as an experiment I decided that I'd try giving myself a short deadline in the future by which time, if things aren't getting any better, I can still quit no guilt attached. For something like this job, I'd probably give it 2 weeks if you need to give notice, or 4 weeks/1 month if you can quit with no notice. It seems to help, because first of all I am not stressing so much about it because I know that it ultimately doesn't matter as I'm going to quit anyway. But secondly, it just gives teething issues a bit of time to settle in and let me adjust to the transition.

To respond to some of the things you said about this place specifically:

I couldn't handle how everyone did things differently over the smallest of tasks.

IME this likely means that it doesn't really matter how the task is done or that the systems about who decides what is done when and how just aren't especially stable, or other people maybe don't know what they're doing either. I would try not to get hung up on this, and I think I would see it as a sort of challenge. When there's a new person there, be a bit more reticent and check with them what they feel to be the way to do things. Or if they do something different, ask them questions about it. Or if they ask you questions, say "Oh this is how Sandra showed me last week, is that right?" Or if you can't remember how to do it you could say something like "Sorry I'm new and I've been on 50 different jobs here - show me how we do this again?" or "Is there a set way to do this?"

There is so much to learn and do...I am going from one task to another, without mastering the basics for one thing.

It's a bit tricky to give advice with this without knowing the context of what kind of work it is. But I suspect that this is one of the things which will get easier in a fairly short time because eventually you will rotate through everything and come back to something which is familiar again. It can be an overwhelming and stressful way to get into a new workplace or team. Although if you can put less pressure on yourself to master everything, and accept that everyone doing things differently is probably a sign that it's always been a bit like this, I think the variety in a way could be quite fun? Though I can see it would be stressful esp if there is a query over ASD as a lot of autistic people find it very difficult not knowing what to expect. It might be worth calling or emailing the day before to see if you can get an idea of what you'll be doing the following day, as it's possible they have it planned out by then.

I also think that it might be that by moving around different tasks and roles you'll end up learning more parts which add up into the big picture of the organisation and how it works, and from that you get more of a sense of the overall process, as well as being flexible to fill any role depending on what needs doing at various times.

Sometimes ND can make it harder to piece these things together, but OTOH I find for myself, it can be harder to get very much into one role when I don't understand where that sits inside the bigger picture. And I wonder whether this might be where you are stuck now, because each of these tasks feel disconnected and sort of pointless. So I might suggest approaching the next session as a sort of fact finding mission to try and see if you can make a link between whatever you are doing that day to what you have done previously. IME, once I understand this link, it also makes it easier to fill in any gaps of "What am I actually supposed to be doing here?"

I am now on the phones and I hate it. I want to be on reception but I am now shadowing half the day there because they want other volunteers to be on reception.

As a PP said it could be that reception is a popular role, so they are trying to give everyone a turn.

Phones are also a fairly universal difficulty for most people under about 40. I know there is this narrative that it is especially difficult for ND people and I do also hate making phone calls, but I did find when I have worked jobs where the person handed me a phone and said "You need to call this person and say this thing" that once I did it it got easier. If there are genuine difficulties e.g. you're getting so panicked you can't speak or struggling with the technical systems or whatever then it might be different, but my gut instinct is to say give it a good shot even if it's not your favourite job. It might be that you get moved on to something else after a short time anyway.

ALSO:

I think it's perfectly OK if you decide to say to the coordinator that the work is not what you expected, and actually you are willing to do XYZ role but not ABC. Or even you are only willing to stay for reception work and you won't do anything else. However I think you do need to accept that they may well say you can't pick and choose, in which case you should say then thanks, but this isn't for me. It is perfectly fine to set this boundary (what roles you're willing to do/not do) and it's also OK for them to say actually, our volunteers do ABC and XYZ. Use it as a practice to overcome the people-pleasing reflex to agree to ABC if you have made this decision, because it honestly does not matter to them and will not offend or disadvantage them if you ultimately decide to stop volunteering. Volunteers come and go all the time.

caughtmetwice · 01/11/2026 14:48

@rookiemere I don't encounter these problems in my other volunteer role (have been there almost a year). Sometimes I do experience some ADHD burnt out the next day, but I think that's because I have done a lot more that day because we have been so short staffed.

I believe I am quite a self aware person. If I compare the two roles which I do, they are polar opposites and I have realised that role one just caters a lot more to who I am. I still deal with lots of people (the public) but I have good autonomy and there is no micromanagement involved. I think the other role is just too much and I don't enjoy dealing with people's complex problems, and always having to ask for assiatnce. I feel so out of my depth,.and it's impacting my physical and mental well-being.

@BertieBotts just for context I'm 41 and have had lots of paid positions in my life. I have been in self employment for over 10 years, but I have done lots of paid employment. I quit a few weeks ago, but on reflection I realised that I was perhaps being over dramatic when an an older volunteer dismissed what I was trying to do. This wasn't just about some old woman disagreeing with me thoiugh, but more that I felt I couldn't do anything right. Then the coordinator started arguing with the other volunteer over something which was so minor imo.

So anyway, I wrote the coordinator a polire email explaining how I felt. The coordinator almost begged me to come back, so I gave the organisation another go and now I am doing phone work which is stressful because I don't know half of people's complex situations and then I got a load of grief down the phone. But more than that, it's the micromanagement and the office environment with lots of people talking loudly that I am also having issues with.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 01/11/2026 17:46

It sounds like it's probably just not a good fit, then? I didn't mean to be patronising, sorry. It's just there wasn't that much info in the 2 posts I was replying to, and I was only trying to relate my own experience and things I've found hard/discovered later in life myself.

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