Family Service Volunteer

Tynedale Hospice at Home Family Support Service provides pre and post bereavement support to adults, children and young people in the communities of Tynedale, West Northumberland and Ponteland. Support is provided to adults via our volunteer active listening service either as part of 1 to 1 sessions or part of a group and bereavement café activities. 

Family Support Volunteers (FSV) will play a vital part in providing support to our clients.  FSV work solely with adults although there may be opportunities to train to work alongside our practitioners to support children and families with outside activity days. You will not be expected to work alone with a child and will always work under the supervision of a member of the Family Support Team.

As an FSV you will be predominantly involved in offering support during 1 to 1 sessions with clients at the Hospice or via telephone and occasionally at a client’s home if they are unable to travel or have hearing difficulties where telephone support is not feasible. You may wish to be involved in adult support groups alongside one of our practitioners or attend one of our Bereavement Café’s. 

The work by its nature is unpredictable so there may be times when you will not be actively working.  The hours therefore are irregular, but we would expect a minimum commitment of 5 hours per month to include travel and report writing plus additional time for meetings, training and supervision. 

You will need excellent listening skills and a warm, empathetic personality. Our Family Support volunteers have a caring, compassionate nature and non-judgemental attitude alongside the ability to deal with emotionally charged situations. We help support and guide you so that you have the ability to manage your own emotions when listening to clients discuss their difficult experiences. It is also important to have the confidence to know when to refer on if a client may require more specialist support.

Experienced FSVs report that, while this work can be challenging, it is also incredibly rewarding as you really can make a huge difference to someone’s life. Feedback from clients over the years has been overwhelmingly positive with many people reporting that the service was a vital lifeline.

By volunteering in this role you are delivering our service on the front line. It’s here that you will see first-hand the benefits that Tynedale Hospice at Home can provide in helping those, pre or post bereavement, with emotional support.