Volunteering for older people in Dublin
Volunteering for older people in Dublin
The volunteers receive excellent experience in the provision of support for older people. The volunteers have the scope to develop publicity materials for the charity and to implement their ideas in raising awareness and improving the services provided.
Friends
of the Elderly works to alleviate loneliness and isolation in the lives
of older people in Dublin. We work to achieve this mission through the
management of a home visiting programme, as well as through a variety of
clubs and activities that are held at our Bolton Street Centre. The
visitation programme targets older people who are housebound and/or
socially isolated by matching them with part-time volunteers who can
visit them on a regular basis, in order to provide regular social
contact and friendship. We are referred new cases by social workers,
doctors, health centres and hospitals. We then assess the social contact
needs of the older person and identify a volunteer willing to make a
regular visit in that area. The social clubs, which include our weekly
Wednesday Club, as well as other activities such as film and karaoke
clubs, are enjoyed by people who are able to travel to our location in
the city centre. In addition, throughout the year we organise holidays,
day trips and outings to concerts and the theatre.
Our activites
are organised and carried out through the work of two salaried staff
members, three full-time volunteers, and 300 part-time volunteers. The
Public Relations Manager / Fundraiser works to raise awareness about
Friends of the Elderly to potential clients, as well as to potential
volunteers and donors. This is done by contacting media, advocating for
policy changes on behalf of older persons, and planning fundraising
activities and publicity events centred around celebrating the role of
older people in society. The Coordinator's role is to manage the
administration of the organisation and to support the full-time and
part-time volunteers in the provision of friendship and social contact
to isolated elderly people.
Friends of the Elderly has been
running a Full Time Volunteering programme for over 10 years. As a small
charity we recruit three full-time volunteers for a period of 12 months
to support our work to combat loneliness and social isolation amongst
elderly people. We would like to ensure that our volunteering
opportunities are open to as many European volunteers as possible and
view the EVS programme as a means to increase the number of European
applicants to our programme. 2010 is our first year to be involved in
the EVS programme.
Tasks
It is a fully immersive experience, with lots of one to one access to older people, events and activities. Full time Volunteering is an opportunity to gain skills that are transferrable to any field, such as filling out paperwork, recordkeeping, managing, event planning, and conducting interviews. Area Coordinators also gain experience specifically in the field of social care. By building relationships with our members, volunteers develop their interpersonal skills such as listening and communicating empathy. In addition, it provides the experience of performing needs assessment, researching services, and advocating in order to meet the needs that people might have. A typical weekly schedule would include: Monday: Contacting older people via telephone, to see how they are doing, updating files and information about their needs and wellbeing. preparing posters and decorations for club activities Tuesday: Volunteers meeting to discuss outcomes from Monday, planning and organising an event for older people/identifying other volunteers to participate, household chores and preparation for Wednesday activities Wednesday: Supervising other volunteers and set up for Wednesday activities, including refreshments, microphones, musical instruments Managing attendance ang engaging one to one with older people, identifying issues/problems experienced by older people and assessing how we can help Thursday:Weekly meeting with manager to update on activities planned and wellbeing of older people, updating website and work on publicity activities with Public Relations manager,volunteer meetings to interview new volunteers and reference checking Friday: Working in charity shop including shop stock including second hand clothes, visiting older people referred to Friends of the Elderly at home and in hospital The volunteers will receive 15 days holidays and work 9-5pm every weekday. On occasion the volunteer will be asked to work some late evenings until 8pm but will receive time-in-lieu of these late evenings.Criteria
Although our application process is open to all over the age of 18+, we ask applicants to explain their reasons for wanting to volunteer with older people and during the interview, provide a series of challenging situations for them to consider how they would respond. We would ideally prefer candidates who has some experience with older people and who are interesting in or currently studying in a social care field. The older people that we work with are in need of emotional support, it is important that all successful volunteers have a certain maturity and ability to cope with people occasionally in distress. A high level of English is required and a background in Social Care/Social work is ideal.Ireland
Long term
12 months, starting 1st of May 2011
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