Support volunteer

Role: Support volunteer

Responsible to: Team manager

Accountable to: Head of volunteering, learning and inclusion.

Hours: Varied, according to the needs of the volunteer you are supporting.

Prospect Hospice’s vision is of a community where death is no longer a taboo, and everyone lives and dies well. We provide excellent, personalised, and compassionate care for everyone in our community who is affected by a life-limiting illness. We work in close partnership with other organisations – and specifically with local health and social care professionals – to ensure that anyone can access the best possible care whenever and wherever they need it, and we do so completely free of charge.

Description of role:

We want every single member of our local community to have the opportunity to support our outstanding work. As part of this focus we’ve built close links with a variety of community agencies who support young people, refugees, people with mental health support needs, autism or learning disabilities, offenders and those seeking to build confidence and job skills, enabling them all to volunteer with us. Sometimes, we need to offer additional support to ensure the volunteering placement is a success, and this is where you come in.

With empathy, patience and an inclusive approach, you’ll volunteer alongside a volunteer with additional support needs, helping them to understand what’s required of them, providing support to build their confidence, and facilitating their integration with the rest of the volunteering team. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when your volunteer decides they no longer need your support.

Role Responsibilities:

• Undertake training on supporting and empowering others
• Participate in a facilitated introductory meeting with the volunteer you will be supporting
• Accompany the volunteer to their induction course where appropriate, supporting them as required with confidence-building, understanding of induction content and completion of induction tasks
• Accompany the volunteer to their initial volunteering shift to ensure they understand onboarding and health and safety information, as well as understanding what’s expected of them in their role
• Volunteer alongside them for as many shifts as needed, working to build their confidence and independence
• Be aware of the boundaries to the role and know when to step back or seek advice
• Be aware of safeguarding and know when to flag issues of concern
• Volunteer in any one of a number of locations for as long as needed, before being allocated to another location alongside another volunteer requiring your support

Everyone at Prospect Hospice works to a set of core values – we are authentic, specialist, person-centred, inclusive, resilient and pursue excellence.

How we bring our values to life everyday:

• We take responsibility for our actions and behaviour, always being our authentic selves whilst being professional, welcoming, and caring to our colleagues and customers.
• We continually review and develop our services to maintain our high standards.
• We act with empathy, striving to listen to and understand others.
• We work together as a team and a community by being approachable and non-judgemental.
• We seek support when needed and provide support to others.
• We excel in delivering the best service, always seeking to improve and learn new skills.

Keeping you safe:

Every volunteer role is risk assessed to ensure you and the people you come into contact with are kept safe, and the person overseeing your role will help you to familiarise yourself with the risk assessment for your specific role before undertaking activities. Alongside this, you’ll need to complete some mandatory training before fully starting your new role. Your safety and wellbeing is important to us, and we ask that you let us know if anything doesn’t feel right at any time.

In some roles you may be given a uniform you’ll need to wear, but we will make sure we let you know about that before you join the team.

We will try to match you to volunteers being placed within ten miles of your base, unless you are willing to travel further. You can claim out of pocket travel expenses on submission of a claim form and receipts. The person overseeing your role will be able to talk you through how to do this.

Skills and Experiences:

Our promise to you:

Our volunteers are so important to us, quite simply we would not be able to do what we do without you.  In return for your valuable time, we commit to making sure you are well supported in your role. We will ensure you receive a thorough induction and training.  We run a series of events to thank you for your contribution, and volunteers have access to a range of benefits (subject to availability), thanks to the generosity of some of our local businesses. The person overseeing your role is available to support you and answer any questions you may have day to day, and they will also provide regular catch-up sessions to review your activities, ensure you remain safe, and provide development as appropriate. For concerns relating to your volunteering experience, the Voluntary Services team are always available.