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Community services listening ear volunteer
Cornwall Hospice Care is a 24/7 Cornish healthcare charity that provides specialist support for people with terminal illnesses. Our clinical teams support in and out patients and their families at Mount Edgcumbe Hospice in St Austell, St Julia’s Hospice in Hayle and in Cornwall’s hospitals, care homes and in the community.
Most patients come into our units because they are having a difficult time with particular symptoms or because of the overall impact of their illness. Volunteers are integral to the care offered at the hospice. They bring a breadth of experience, skill and ability to all areas of hospice care.
What does a Community Services Listening Ear Volunteer do?
The role of the Listening Ear Volunteer is to ensure that every client has a supportive and positive experience. Listening Ear Volunteers play a vital role in helping clients feel listened to and cared for. There are number of specific responsibilities within the volunteer role. These may vary in relation to the needs of each client.
Community Services Listening Ear Volunteer Key responsibilities:
- Supporting bereaved clients via the telephone
- Offering supportive information and signposting where required
- Arranging ongoing telephone appointments with client
- Updating spreadsheets and documents with client information in a timely manner
- Attending a fortnightly on-line supervision meeting
- Leading conversations
- Adhering to our safeguarding policy
Volunteer commitment:
Any time between the hours of 10.00am and 2.00pm, Monday – Friday excluding bank holidays.
Appointments are arranged between the client and volunteer.
Volunteers will also be asked to attend meetings or training sessions where appropriate.
Volunteer skills and qualities:
- Be able to listen and empathise.
- Sensitive to the needs of the client.
- Reliable and punctual.
- Courteous, friendly and affable.
- Possess good interpersonal and communication skills.
- Be able to cope with emotional conversations.
- Enjoy talking and dealing with a variety of people.
- Have an excellent understanding of confidentiality.
- Have a good understanding of IT programs (Email, Word, Excel spreadsheets and video calling).
- Ability to use internet search engines.
- Have a good understanding of personal and professional boundaries.
- Sense of humour.
- Commitment to the ethos of Cornwall Hospice Care.
Induction and Training
All new volunteers are asked to attend an induction session which covers topics including the code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, fire evacuation procedures, infection prevention and control measures as well as other relevant Hospice information.
Volunteers will be asked to complete some mandatory training to keep up to date with organisational and legal regulation changes.
We hope each volunteer maintains regular contact with the Community Services team, and takes responsibility for communication regarding their role and responsibilities.
What you can expect from Cornwall Hospice Care
- To be valued and respected
- To receive appropriate induction and training
- To have adequate support and supervision
- To have a safe working environment
- To be reimbursed for reasonable out of pocket expenses
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and references
Due to the nature of this volunteer role, this position is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check at Standard Level. Volunteers will also be required to provide 2 references and attend a first conversation with members of the Community Services team.
