The "Awakenings" Foundation was established in 1991 with the aim to modernise psychiatric care in Hungary, leaving behind the legacy of socialism. The organisation's greatest achievement to date has been to establish the idea and practice of community psychiatry in the country. The "Awakenings" Foundation is a combination of service provider, educator, and visionary. It integrates these three functions in an exemplary way. Over the past thirty-three years, the "Awakenings" Foundation has undergone significant organisational development. In the meantime, it has achieved major successes in the field of mental health, such as the launch of the training of experiential experts and the introduction of the Voice Hearing Method. From the very beginning, the Awakenings Foundation has employed volunteers. However, it has relied more heavily on the work of psychology students since 2011, when it signed a contract with ELTE. Volunteers are an important part of the organisation's operations. This paper will first briefly summarise the organisational history of the "Awakenings" Foundation. In particular, it will highlight the initiatives that the Foundation has proposed in the field of mental health care. It will then describe the experience of the "Awakenings" Foundation in the field of volunteer coordination, with a special focus on the role of volunteers in the functioning of the organisation.

Keywords: "Awakenings" Foundation, community psychiatry, Integrated Psychiatric Care, recovery approach, experiential experts, Voice Hearing Method, rehabilitation