Shenley Wood are flexible with their volunteers – whatever time you can give, they will appreciate and value, for it’s the residents that will benefit from any time you have to help make sure that the activities, facilities and groups are running for them to access and participate in.
Volunteers are needed at Shenley Wood in the following areas:
Befriender
The purpose of a befriender is to share time with residents listening and chatting, encouraging them to participate in a friendly and professional manner.
Main tasks:
- To meet with residents who may be isolated in communal areas
- To spend time with new residents welcoming them and introducing them to village life
- To encourage the resident to participate in village life
- To spend time with the resident chatting, listening and responding
- To follow standard procedures and rules of conduct
- To work with and in consultation with the staff and specifically the Village Activity Facilitator, Wellbeing advisor and Locksmith
- Find things of interest for the resident to talk about
Attributes/Competencies:
- To be a good listener and have an empathy with people
- Pleasant, friendly personality, patient with a mature understanding attitude
- Trustworthy, honest, reliable, able to observe confidentiality
- To work as part of a team
Gym
This role is to assist the fitness instructor in the smooth running of the gym and to ensure proper procedures are observed, and to enhance the services provided within the village.
Main tasks:
- Assisting with the opening and closing the gym
- Turning machinery on and off as required
- Carrying out daily cleaning and health and safety checks on gym facilities
- Providing excellent customer service to gym members
- Providing information on the operation of gym equipment
- Operating the gym music system
- Observing the gym (being able to raise the alarm in an emergency)
- Filing and finding gym members programme cards
- Promote gym facilities and memberships
- Assisting with housekeeping tasks within the gym facilities To observe standard procedures and observe Health and Safety and rules of conduct
Attributes/Competencies:
A people person with a pleasant and friendly personality
Trustworthy, honest and reliable
Ability to carry out their role within a team and under own initiative
Memory Group Session
The purpose of the role is to support the EOP Locksmith in delivering a reminiscence session through a person-centered and holistic approach.
Main tasks:
- Welcoming and chatting to group members
- Supporting residents to their seats
- Participating in group and one to one discussions
- Engaging with individuals, listening to their life history and respecting their life experiences
- Providing the Locksmith with a summary of sessions and assisting them with planning future
- reminiscence discussions
- Assisting with group activities such as quizzes with the possibility of leading sessions
- Making refreshments for residents
Attributes/Competencies:
- Excellent communication skills
- Empathetic with a person centered approach
- A good listener with a friendly and welcoming personality
- Reliable and flexible
- An understanding of Dementia would be beneficial to this role
- A strong team member
Wellbeing Group – Escorter
The role of the Volunteer Escorter Coordinator is to escort, support and assist residents to and from wellbeing and the Enriched Opportunities Programme (EOP) activities and sessions within the village.
Main tasks:
- Collect residents in a timed manner following a timetable
- Escorting residents to activities and sessions (assisting wheelchair users if required)
- Chatting to residents
- Liaising with the volunteer escorter coordinator, the residents and the care team when necessary
- To follow standard procedures and rules of conduct
- To work with and in consultation with the staff and specifically the Village Activity Facilitator/Activity Coordinator, Wellbeing advisor and Locksmith
Attributes/Competencies:
- Reliable and punctual with excellent time management skills
- To be a good listener and have an empathy with people
- Pleasant, friendly personality, patient with a mature understanding attitude
- Trustworthy, honest, able to observe confidentiality
- To work as part of a team
Shop Assistant
The role of the shop assistant is to ensure that you are providing good customer service to the residents in a friendly and professional manner, as well as undertaking generic shop housekeeping duties.
Main tasks:
- Providing excellent customer service
- Assisting customers with their purchases
- Replenishing and Rotating stock
- Processing sales, cash handling and operating a till
- Processing deliveries
- Labeling and pricing stock
- General housekeeping duties
Attributes/Competencies
- A pleasant, friendly personality, patient with a mature attitude
- Trustworthy, honest, reliable
- Able to work in a team and under own initiative
- Experience of retail work or customer focussed activity would be advantageous but full training and support will be given
Training and development for all roles will be provided.
If you are interested in any of these roles, please contact the Shenley Wood ExtraCare Volunteer manager at natalie.sabin@extracare.org.uk or call on 01908 413035