At just 10 years old, Claire attended a school holiday program where a local St John volunteer visited to teach basic first aid.

“I bugged my mum so much that by February she signed me up,” Claire laughs.

That moment sparked a journey that has now stretched across three decades of volunteering with St John Ambulance Victoria, a journey that helped shape not only her career, but her sense of belonging, purpose and community.

Now working within St John’s Communications Division as a Training and Development Officer, Claire develops online learning and training communications used across the organisation. But long before that, she was a determined 10-year-old cadet accidentally enrolled into a first aid course earlier than expected.

“They looked at my birthday and said, ‘You’re too young to be here,’” she recalls. “But Mum basically said, ‘Well, she’s already come now!’”

Claire passed the course and officially became a cadet at just 10 years and three months old.

Thirty years later, volunteering remains a huge part of her life.

“For me, volunteering is about giving back to the community,” she said. “It gave me a place to learn skills, meet like-minded people and feel connected.”

Over the years, Claire has watched St John evolve dramatically, from the formal uniforms and military-style inspections of the 1990s to today’s modern medical response teams equipped with advanced clinical support.

“When I started, it was very first aid focused,” she explained. “Now you can walk into an event and see almost a full hospital-style setup with medical teams, ventilators and advanced care.”

But while much has changed operationally, one thing has stayed the same: the people.

St John also played a major role in shaping Claire’s future career as a nurse.

“By the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to be a nurse,” she said. “Everyone around me thought it was just a phase, but I never changed my mind.”

Supported and inspired by the nurses, paramedics and mentors she met through volunteering, Claire went straight from school into university and into nursing, a career she still proudly works in today.

Claire is also openly autistic, having received her diagnosis later in life. She speaks proudly about her assistance dog, Hazel, who supports her daily and is rarely far from her side.

Alongside St John, Claire also dedicates much of her time to Girl Guides, where she mentors young people and encourages them to become active volunteers within their own communities.

“Choose an organisation where you can truly belong,” she said. “Not just somewhere you volunteer once for two hours and leave feeling warm and fuzzy. Find somewhere you can grow, learn skills and build community long term.”

As Australia celebrates National Volunteer Week, Claire hopes her story encourages others to stop waiting and simply get involved.

“What have you been waiting for?” she said with a smile. “I started when I was 10.”

After 30 years of service, Claire’s passion for helping others remains as strong as ever, evidence to the lifelong impact volunteering can have, not only on the community, but on the volunteers themselves.