THIS year Kalamunda resident Bill Smith celebrates five years of volunteering at Kalamunda Senior High School (KSHS).

“It’s really great that you give the kids this time but I do it for myself too,” Mr Smith said.

“Quite honestly, I get so much out of it.

“That sense of being able to contribute to the community and to the school.”

He felt rewarded by the work after teachers commented on the changes in the behaviours of students after being mentored.

At KSHS Mr Smith mentors at-risk students from Year 7 up to Year 12.

“The boys who would get referred to me are the at-risk ones,” he said.

“At risk of a poor school attendance or poor scholastic performance.”

In addition to mentoring, Mr Smith helps run a boys’ program at school which focuses on personal development.

“The boys group session worked with their social skills, their teamwork skills, sorting out obstacles in conflict resolution, communication, how to deal with stress, safe use of technology and social media, building their character strengths and forming really strong friendships.

“I also support teachers with the robotics group that we’re all really proud of because they’ve done well at state and national competitions.’’

Mr Smith also supports teachers with a program for kids who identify as gender or sexually diverse.

“All the kids drop in there and it’s a safe place for them to hang out.”

Mr Smith said he was often given cases which involved teenage boys during the years he worked as a social worker.

“The young female child protection workers used to throw the teenage boys at me because they found them really difficult,” he said.

Mr Smith said despite being a retired social worker, he continued to do the work in an unpaid manner.

“I thought, I’ve got to do something.

“You can’t just spend your retirement going on cruises and playing golf and doing gardening and whatever else.

“I’ll make myself useful.”

Having lived in Kalamunda for 27 years, Mr Smith said he wanted to continue volunteering at the school and didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

“My roots are definitely down in Kalamunda.”

He called on others to look into volunteering opportunities to help the community in some way.

“It does take a village to raise a child and if the child doesn’t feel the warmth of the village, it’ll burn it down to feel the warmth.”