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Volunteering with Hospice Care
Hospice Care runs a volunteer training course at least twice each year. Courses are usually held one day per week for 6 weeks, but from time to time, we also offer evening courses. The courses are interactive, informal and non-academic. You don't need any qualifications to join a course - just a willingness to learn and an interest in being supportive to clients.
The course includes basic communication skills, discussions about death and dying, understanding grief, loss and bereavement, basic back care and manual handling safety, the role of the volunteer, basic hand and foot massage. The courses are stimulating and a lot of fun too, and provides you with a basic network of support to enter your volunteering experience.
What level of commitment is required?
Once you have completed your training, we ask for a commitment of 2 - 4 hours per week for a year.That doesn’t mean that you can’t have time off in that year – we recognise that people have other commitments – to work, family, etc. For many people who are retired, several weeks per year may be spent travelling. We are able to be flexible. We just ask that you always let us know if you are going to be unavailable for any period.
What skills do I need to be a volunteer?
Volunteers need a positive attitude to life, an ability to listen and communicate well, good self-care strategies, a sense of humour, reliability, commitment, and a willingness to learn.Many people have an interest in volunteering in Hospice because they have cared for a family member or friend who has died, but we do ask that you don’t apply until at least 12 months after your bereavement. We also have many people with experience as paid carers, or nurses. Those skills are greatly valued in Hospice, but we still ask that those people do our training.
The courses are interactive, encourage people to get to know their fellow volunteers, share their knowledge and experience, and learn what volunteering in Hospice will be like, and what the organisation and our clients expect from you.
Hospice has a commitment to providing volunteers with a range of on-going training and educational experiences. We also have social and fund-raising events volunteers can join in too.
What do volunteers gain?
- New skills and knowledge which are useful in supporting friends, family and the others through difficult situations.
- Utilising skills and expertise which may be under-used in your present circumstances.
- A sense of joining a caring community of other volunteers, staff and team members who share common goals and values.
- The opportunity to give something back to the community, being useful, being appreciated.
- Having fun and making new friends.
- Structured volunteering with a regular commitment to suit your lifestyle
Practical matters
Volunteers are able to choose where they volunteer and when. If you don’t drive, you may prefer to volunteer in one of the hospital settings, where you can use public transport to fulfil your commitment.
Some volunteers have health concerns. As long as we know what these are we can mostly accommodate your needs – so we wouldn’t put you in a situation where you needed to physically assist clients if you have a back injury, for example.
Volunteers are reimbursed for their expenses – travel to and from their client work, or other out of pocket expenses.
We are required to have all volunteers complete a Criminal History record check via Tasmania Police. If you have already completed such a check, we are happy to sight an original, or copy of the certificate. If you don't have a current check, we will provide you with a signed form once you have successfully completed the volunteer training course, which you then submit at a cost of $5 (volunteer rate).
I'm a bit worried about getting too involved emotionally in this kind of work
People often imagine that Hospice volunteering is very emotionally demanding, or depressing. Hospice volunteers say that they really enjoy their work, and that there is a lot of laughter and fun. Volunteer training helps with understanding how to deal with being with sadness, and how to maintain self-care and perspective. Hospice volunteering is very rewarding.
We have monthly lunch-time meetings where volunteers share food, express any concerns they have and get advice, and get more education on a wide variety of topics. We also have an annual weekend camp, where we have stimulating workshops, great food, and a huge amount of fun and laughter. Volunteers often make firm friends among the Hospice community.
I’d like to volunteer, so what do I do next?
You can fill in the attached application form, and send it back to Hospice Care via mail, or email. We will make contact with you before we offer the next course, and invite you to have an informal interview with the Coordinator, or to attend an information session before the next course begins.
I'm not sure volunteering with clients is for me, but I would like to support the Association.
There are a number ways you can support Hospice Care without working directly with our clients. You can become a financial member ($15 per year), which entitles you to stand for election to our Management Committee, and to vote at our AGM, to receive 3 times yearly newsletters and invitations to social and fund-raising events.
You can also choose to be a Friend of Hospice and volunteer through the Friends to support fund-raising events, to assist with occasional administrative work, to join gardening working bees at the Whittle Palliative Care Unit, to attend social events.
We sometimes need people to do publicity, public speaking, or other tasks for us, so if you have skills to offer in this area, we would be delighted to hear from you.
If you would like to talk about how you could get involved, please phone the Hospice office.
Fran Conducts at the Hospice weekend at Orana, 2009
Mandala at the Hospice weekend at Orana, 2009
Copyright © 2010
