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St Joseph's Hospice
Founded in 1905 by the Sisters of Charity, St Joseph’s Hospice is one of the oldest and largest hospices in the UK.
Description

Compassionate Neighbours is a social movement, founded by St Joseph’s Hospice in 2014, to help reduce loneliness and social isolation. Compassionate Neighbours are trained volunteers offering friendship and a listening ear to people living in their community, who are at the end of life through age or illness.

So far, we have trained over 320 Compassionate Neighbours who are empowered to provide support to others in their local community.

 

Duties

Compassionate Neighbours make a real difference to their local communities:

People living with a serious, long-term or terminal illness, as well as the elderly, often struggle with loneliness and could do with some extra support.

Compassionate Neighbours are  a network of trained people who offer their time, companionship and support to people living in their community who are coping with serious illness or old age.

Compassionate Neighbours help others by:

  • visiting regularly
  • offering friendship, emotional support and a listening ear
  • helping them to do the things they like doing
  • helping them stay connected to the community as well as family and friends
Who will the volunteers be working with?
You will be working with your local community member but have the opportunity to meet with other volunteers at the Hospice at regular catch up and development meetings as well as other Hospice opportunities.
Training
Our training is informal, fun and inspirational, in fact it’s unlike any other training you might have been on! We give you the opportunity to explore how you can use your compassion to help others and give you the confidence to support people in your community. You’ll develop skills, meet other like-minded Compassionate Neighbours and, most importantly, have a great time. Training is provided free of charge and includes refreshments and lunch.

Our training is for two full days which are held over two consecutive weekends, two consecutive weekdays or four consecutive half days. You will need to complete the two full days to become a Compassionate Neighbour.
Please note we are also able to offer women only and men only training, for more information contact the team on 020 8525 6058 / [email protected]

Time commitment

Compassionate Neighbours is a different way of volunteering than traditional programmes. This one has more flexiblity around volunteering. This role can be a couple of hours a week, you decide with your match when you'll meet.
As with all our volunteering roles, we do require a minimum commitment of six months and you must be over 18 to volunteer in this role.
Application deadline

This organisation is one of our community partner organisations.

Like all volunteer recruiters we work with, they have signed up to our service standards, agreeing to abide by our policy on partnership working to keep you safe and supported whilst you volunteer.

You’ll never be out of pocket for volunteering through us – with in-London travel expenses to and from your volunteering guaranteed.

In addition, the team here at Students’ Union UCL Volunteering Service is here to support you throughout your volunteering journey – you can get in touch with us at any time.