Day: Flexible
Ideal time commitment: 3 hours per week plus writing time
Location: Taunton Hospice Hub
Why we need you
St Margaret’s is looking for people to join the Family & Patient Support team to provide emotional support to patients and their carers.
This is a voluntary telephone role, which will be based at Taunton hospice hub.
What will you be doing
- To provide telephone support to patients and carers
- Actively listen to help explore their thoughts and feelings around the emotional, physical and practical issues surrounding a palliative diagnosis
- Remaining mindful, this is a listening & supporting role and not counselling
- Working within boundaries to ensure the safety of yourself and those you support
- Provide a summary of each call using the agreed format
- Maintaining confidentiality in accordance with St Margaret’s confidentiality policy
- Actively participating in team meetings, training and supervision. It is expected that volunteers will attend at least three quarters of these meetings to maintain sufficient support and to carry out this role safely. Exceptional circumstances will, of course, be considered.
The skills you need
- Is compassionate and empathetic
- Has good verbal and listening skills
- Is able to maintain personal boundaries and confidentiality
- Is able to listen non-judgmentally when working with patients with a life limiting illness and carers anticipating loss
- Is able to send and receive emails as well as attending online training sessions
- Has a keen interest in the hospice and an understanding of the services it offers
- Is reflective, self-aware and able to seek support when it is needed.
What’s in it for you
- The opportunity to make a real difference to people with life limiting illness in your community
- The opportunity to use your professional experience and high-level skills to support strategy development
- You will receive an enhanced induction and relevant training
- You can broaden skills, knowledge and expertise working alongside a diverse range of professions
- Enhance your CV
- Meet new people and join a friendly team
- Agreed out of pocket expenses (reimbursed within our guidelines).
What we need from you
- A minimum commitment of 6 months
- As part of our commitment to safer volunteer recruitment practices, volunteers interested in this role, will be required to provide two references, a DBS and attend an interview
- Applicants will need to be 18+ to carry out this volunteer role.