This volunteer role will give you the opportunity to befriend and support others in your local community.
Our Carers Service volunteers support relatives and friends of our patients by providing providing companionship and emotional support.
The service offers free respite for unpaid family carers in the community, where a volunteer will sit with the patient for a few hours providing companionship, while their carer has a break. Our volunteers also provide emotional support for unpaid carers, helping to reduce isolation.
- To provide emotional support and companionship to patients and carers when visiting. This may include tasks such as listening, talking and reading.
- Carer respite: to sit with and provide companionship to the patient (between 1 -4 hours) to enable the carer to take a break, do some shopping, attend a support group, meet up with friends or family, or attend their own heath appointments.
- Develop an awareness of other services and resources available for carers at the hospice and local community. To be alert to and identify those needing in -depth support or additional services, and report this to the Carer Service Coordinator as appropriate._.
- To perform light tasks, this may include preparing drinks or snacks, washing a few dishes, collecting prescriptions etc.
- To offer telephone support/befriending to carers. Complete and submit professional visit records in a timely manner.
- Make a difference to the lives of patients and carers of St Joseph’s Hospice.
- Reimbursement of travel and phone expenses incurred in relation to your volunteer work
- On-going supervision and support.
- A commitment to continued development of your volunteering role.
- Provision of a reference after 6 months active volunteering.
- 1 day Carers Service Volunteer Training
- 1 day Hospice Induction (inclusive of mandatory training modules)
- A diverse programme of training sessions to support your continued development
- Good communication skills
- Patience and empathy
- Reliable, dependable and enthusiastic
- Accepting, understanding and non-judgemental
- Respect the confidentiality & privacy of each service user & the information they share.
- Ability to work without direct supervision.
- Ability to recognise and work within own limitations and that of the role, asking for help and advice as needed.
- Ability to keep accurate and timely documentation
- Establish and maintain appropriate boundaries
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