Acts of service is one of those phrases that sounds like it belongs on a greeting card… until you realize it might also belong in your self-care plan.

In an episode of Inside Mental Health from Psych Central, host Gabe Howard sits down with actor Travis Van Winkle (a lead in Netflix’s FUBAR) to dig into a deceptively simple question: Can being of service to others actually benefit you? Not in a “karma points” way. In a “my brain feels less like a browser with 37 tabs open” way.

This article breaks down the big ideas from that conversationplus what science and major health organizations say about volunteering, social connection, and why small helpful actions can ripple into real mental-health gains. We’ll keep it practical, a little funny, and very “you can do this without becoming the mayor of volunteering.”

What the podcast episode is really saying (without the fluff)

The episode’s core theme is a “both/and” idea: service can be selfless and still help the person doing it. Travis Van Winkle shares how serviceespecially mentoringbecame a turning point for him, and he and Gabe push back on the notion that “if you benefit from volunteering, it doesn’t count.”

They also widen the definition of service. Yes, formal volunteering matters. But so do the tiny “human being” moments: holding a door, checking on a neighbor, helping someone carry a box, or showing up consistently for a kid who needs stability.

Van Winkle’s service background isn’t just theoretical. He’s been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters for years and has supported nonprofit work through buildOn, including fundraising and participating in school-building efforts. Those details matter because they show something important: acts of service aren’t a personality typethey’re a practice. You do a little. You learn. You do more. You become someone who serves.

“Acts of service” has two meaningsand both can help

Before we go further, let’s untangle the phrase “acts of service,” because it gets used in two common ways:

1) Acts of service as a love language

In relationship talk, “acts of service” often refers to one of the “love languages”showing care through helpful actions like cooking dinner, handling errands, or doing a task that makes someone’s day easier. The key ingredient isn’t the chore; it’s the intention. You’re saying, “I see you, and I’ve got you.”

2) Acts of service as community service (volunteering)

In mental-health and wellness conversations, “acts of service” usually points to volunteering or helping your communitymentoring, serving meals, supporting a local school, coaching, building homes, cleaning parks, fundraising, or simply being a reliable helper in a place where people need one.

These two meanings overlap more than you’d think. Both involve:

• Attention: noticing a need
• Action: doing something concrete
• Connection: strengthening a relationship (one person, a group, or your community)

And both can create something modern life is constantly stealing from us: a sense of purpose and belonging.

Why service can boost your mental health (the science-y part, explained like a human)

Let’s be clear: volunteering isn’t a substitute for therapy, medication, or real treatment when you need it. But research and public health guidance consistently connect service and social connection with better well-being. Here’s why it can work.

Your brain likes being useful (reward pathways and mood)

When you help someone, your brain often responds like, “Ah yes. We are doing a Good Thing™.” Some clinicians describe volunteering as activating reward pathways and supporting feel-good neurochemicals. That can translate into a short-term mood liftsometimes subtle, sometimes surprisingly strong.

Think of it like this: if your brain is a toddler, service is a sticker chart. It’s not the only way to parent the toddler, but stickers help.

Service interrupts rumination (a.k.a. the doom-loop)

One reason acts of service can feel emotionally “resetting” is that they pull attention outward. Rumination thrives in isolation and repetition: the same worries, the same self-criticism, the same “Why did I say that in 2017?” highlight reel.

Helping someone introduces novelty, movement, and a different focus. It doesn’t erase your problemsbut it can reduce the mental bandwidth they occupy, which is often the first step toward coping better.

It strengthens social connection (which is basically a health vitamin)

Public health agencies have been unusually blunt about this: social connection is protective. Strong relationships and community ties are associated with better mental and physical outcomes. Volunteering is one of the most reliable ways to build those tiesespecially if you’re new to an area, feeling lonely, or stuck in the “I should make friends” phase where you make none because you are busy thinking about making friends.

Even when you volunteer alone (like cleaning up a trail), you’re still participating in something bigger than youand that sense of “I’m part of a place” matters.

It builds purpose and identity (the “I’m not just surviving” effect)

A lot of emotional suffering gets louder when life feels meaningless or directionless. Purpose doesn’t have to be huge. It can be “I show up twice a month for my mentee,” or “I stock the community fridge every Saturday.” The National Institute on Aging notes that meaningful activitieslike volunteeringare linked with feeling happier and less depressed for many older adults. The broader idea applies across ages: meaningful roles support well-being.

It can help your body, too (yes, really)

Some research has linked volunteering with measurable physical outcomes. Harvard Health has highlighted findings like lower blood pressure among people who volunteer regularly, and multiple studies associate volunteering with longer life and better functioningespecially when the motivation is genuinely other-focused rather than purely self-focused.

Translation: volunteering won’t replace your annual checkup, but it may be one of those “good for you” habits that influences health in more ways than we used to think.

“Is it still good if I’m doing it for me?” (The ‘selfish vs. selfless’ myth)

One of the most useful points from the episode is the permission slip it gives: you’re allowed to benefit from helping.

In fact, insisting that service must involve suffering is a great way to make sure fewer people volunteer. It’s also a strange moral standard. We don’t say, “Exercise doesn’t count if you enjoyed it.” We don’t say, “Healthy food doesn’t count if it tasted good.” So why would we say, “Service doesn’t count if it helped you?”

A healthier framework looks like this:

• Impact matters. Did your action genuinely help someone or improve a situation?
• Intent matters. Were you trying to contribute, not just perform goodness for applause?
• Sustainability matters. If benefits help you keep showing up, that’s a feature, not a bug.

The podcast also nudges listeners to drop the “perfect volunteer” fantasy. You don’t need saint energy. You need “reasonable human who can commit to something realistic” energy.

Big volunteering isn’t required (micro-service counts)

Mentoring through a structured program is meaningfuland it can be life-changing for both mentor and mentee. But not everyone can do a year-long commitment, travel, or take on a formal role.

That’s why the “small acts” idea is so powerful. Micro-service is what happens when you practice being the kind of person who helps:

• Text a friend who’s struggling: “Want company on a walk?”
• Offer to carry groceries for an elderly neighbor.
• Write a thoughtful review for a local nonprofit fundraiser.
• Volunteer virtually for an hour (tutoring, crisis-text support training, translation, admin help).
• Do the invisible chore at home without announcing it like a press conference.

These actions may look small, but they’re psychologically loud. They create evidence: “I can be useful. I can connect. I can make a difference today.”

How to start doing acts of service (without burning out)

Step 1: Pick a “why” that actually fits you

Forget what looks impressive. Ask what feels meaningful:

• Do you care about kids? Consider mentoring, tutoring, or coaching.
• Love animals? Shelters often need walkers, fosters, and admin help.
• Care about mental health? Volunteer with advocacy groups or community education projects.
• Want something simple? Food banks, community fridges, and neighborhood cleanups are straightforward and high-impact.

Step 2: Choose a commitment that your life can tolerate

The best volunteer plan is the one you’ll still be doing in three months. Start with:

• One-time (a single event)
• Low-frequency (once a month)
• Low-duration (60–90 minutes)

You can always scale up later. “Start small” isn’t a motivational poster; it’s a retention strategy.

Step 3: Match your nervous system (introverts, this is for you)

If people drain you, choose service that fits your energy style:

• Behind-the-scenes roles (sorting donations, organizing supplies, packing meal kits)
• Outdoor roles (park cleanups, community gardens)
• Skill-based virtual roles (editing, web help, design, bookkeeping)

Step 4: Build boundaries like you build muscle

Service is powerful, but overextending can backfire. Healthy boundaries include:

• Saying “I can do X hours, not Y.”
• Choosing roles with training and support (especially for mentoring).
• Taking breaks when life is heavy.

The goal is not martyrdom. The goal is contribution plus sustainability.

Listening guide: questions to ask yourself after the episode

If you listen to the podcast (or even if you just steal the idea and pretend you listenedno judgment), reflect on:

• When was the last time I helped someone and felt genuinely lighter afterward?
• Do I avoid service because of time, fear, or “it won’t matter” thinking?
• What’s one act of service I could do this week that’s realistic?
• What kind of service would make me feel connected rather than depleted?

Conclusion: Service isn’t magicbut it can be medicine

The big takeaway from “Can Acts of Service Benefit You?” is refreshingly non-mystical: when you help others, you often help yourself. Not because the universe is keeping receipts, but because your brain and body respond to connection, purpose, and usefulness.

And you don’t have to go big to start. You can begin with a small, almost boring actionsomething so doable it feels silly. Those are often the actions that stick.

If you’ve been feeling disconnected, stuck, or overly focused on your own stress (welcome to being alive), acts of service can be a practical way to step out of that loop. Not as a performance. Not as punishment. Just as a habit that quietly makes you more humanand a little more okay.

Experiences: What Acts of Service Looks Like in Real Life (and how it changes people)

To make this topic feel less theoretical, here are real-world kinds of experiences people commonly report when they build service into their livessome big, some tiny, all surprisingly meaningful.

1) The mentoring “I didn’t expect to get attached” experience

Someone signs up to mentor because it seems like a respectable thing to do. They picture fun outings, a few life lessons, maybe a couple of high-fives. Then real life happens: the kid is shy, the first meetings are awkward, and the mentor worries they’re not “good at this.”

But they keep showing up. The relationship slowly becomes predictable in the best wayconsistent attention, a safe adult, a calm presence. The mentor notices something weird: their own anxiety settles during those hangouts. They’re less stuck in their phone. They laugh more. They start thinking in terms of “we” instead of “me.” Months later, the mentor realizes they didn’t just contribute; they gained a role that makes them feel steady and useful.

2) The food bank “my problems got smaller for an hour” experience

Another person tries a food bank shift on a rough week. They’re tired. Their head is loud. They assume they’ll feel noble and exhausted. Instead, they spend two hours sorting produce and packing boxes with a group of strangers who are oddly funny. Nobody asks them to be inspiring. They just do the work.

On the drive home, they notice their shoulders aren’t glued to their ears anymore. Their stress hasn’t vanished, but it softened. The next day, they still have the same responsibilitiesbut they also have a memory that counters the inner narrative of “I’m stuck.” They did something that mattered. And their brain filed it away as evidence that they can move through hard seasons with purpose.

3) The “micro-service” habit that quietly fixes a bad mood

A lot of service isn’t organized volunteering. It’s the small, repeatable stuff: taking out the trash without being asked, bringing soup to a neighbor, walking a friend’s dog after surgery, helping a coworker learn a tool without making them feel dumb.

People who adopt micro-service as a habit often describe a subtle shift: they feel more connected to daily life. The world stops feeling like a place they merely endure. They become someone who improves the room they’re in. It’s not dramaticbut it’s stabilizing, like emotional insulation.

4) The virtual volunteering “I can help without leaving my house” experience

For folks with tight schedules, disabilities, or social anxiety, remote service can be a game changer. Someone might tutor online, caption videos, help a nonprofit with editing, or do admin tasks. At first, it feels almost too easy. “Does this count?”

Then a thank-you message arrives: the nonprofit met a deadline, a student improved, a community resource got published. The volunteer realizes service isn’t about suffering or commuting; it’s about contribution. That realization alone can reduce guilt and increase confidencetwo emotions that love to wrestle for control in a stressed-out mind.

5) The “service helped me handle my own pain” experience

Some people come to service during a personal low pointgrief, burnout, loneliness, or a season of feeling unmoored. They don’t volunteer because they’re overflowing with joy; they volunteer because they need a reason to get out of their own head.

What they often discover is that helping doesn’t erase pain, but it changes their relationship with it. Service provides structure, perspective, and connection. It adds moments of competence and care into a week that might otherwise feel like survival mode. Over time, those moments stack upand the person starts to feel like themselves again, not because life is perfect, but because they’re participating in life in a meaningful way.

That’s the understated power behind the podcast’s message: service is not a trophy. It’s a practice. And practiced consistentlyeven in small dosesit can make you feel more grounded, more connected, and more capable of handling whatever your brain is currently yelling about.