We are recruiting volunteers for an exciting new Volunteer Advocate role in EveryDay Care & Support
VOLUNTEER ADVOCATE ROLE OUTLINE
You will support people in your local community to have their views, wishes and feelings heard and to achieve their personal aspirations and goals. Within this role you’ll support people with their issues or concerns and ultimately empower them to be able to resolve similar issues themselves in the future.
As an independent volunteer advocate you will help people to:
- Engage with others so they feel involved and supported
- Participate so they don’t feel left out, isolated or disempowered
- Feel included
- Get the support they need, when they need it, based on what matters to them
- Understand their options and choices
- Choose what they feel is best for them given all the relevant information
- Understand what services might be available to them and what they can expect from services
- Be fully involved when decisions are being made that affect them
- Feel in control and equal to those around them
- Make sure their rights and entitlements are understood and upheld
- Understand what’s happening at meetings or appointments
- Say what matters to them in meetings or sit alongside them to give support
- Look at ways to make them feel safe if they have been or are at risk of being harmed
Key skills or knowledge of a Volunteer Advocate
- Listening to people and hearing their wishes and aspirations
- Understanding of older people’s issues
- Understanding carers issues
- Empathising with people
- Ability to empower people
- Patience and understanding of older people’s situations
- Ability to plan a way forward with someone
- Ability to communicate clearly with others
- Ability to help people process information
- Ability to explain things in clear concise ways
- Lived experiences to draw on
- Positivity
- Good time keeping
- Ability to keep information confidential (as appropriate)
Key tasks for a volunteer advocate
- Helping someone to understand the advocacy role at the start of the first meeting with them, including what you can and cant do
- together towards achieving their desired outcomes
- Exploring and researching options that are available to the person
- Being there with someone if they need support at a meeting
- Making phone calls, sending emails, helping to write letters or filling in forms
- Providing the support agreed in the plan and reviewing regularly what progress is being made with the person being supported
- Appropriately ending the support when all issues have been resolved and in agreement with the older person or carer
- Attending meetings with your supervisor as agreed and updating regularly on the status of the support being provided including any concerns
- Keeping records of your meetings and complying with data protection regulations, ensuring that our client information is kept confidential.
- Adhering to the Group’s values, policies, and procedures
Additional Information
- An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be required on all volunteer advocates
- Covid 19 vaccinations ( Both Vaccinations )
- Establishing appropriate ways of working to meet each person’s needs
How to Apply
If you are interested in this role please request a registration form by emailing volunteer@ageuknorthtyneside.org.uk
Volutneer Case Study – Linda
Linda is 69 years young and lives alone. Although she has a few health problems this doesn’t stop her from being active and thinking about her own wellbeing. Previously she’d had a career as a carer before joining Age UK North Tyneside as a volunteer 20 years ago.
When Linda found herself without employment, it was her Career Advisor who suggested doing some volunteering and suggested Age UK North Tyneside to help her to gain new skills.
Age UK North Tyneside gave Linda the opportunity to visit their Wellbeing Centre in Wallsend to do some volunteer work and share activities with the customers. Linda loved it.
By becoming a volunteer Linda has gained lots of new skills such as attending training for different courses and meeting new people. Volunteering has also helped to boost Linda’s confidence and gives her some social time with others. It allows her to keep her hand in with baking, gardening, crocheting and doing other activities such as arts and crafts which she thoroughly enjoys.
Linda said, “As a volunteer I enjoy attending the Wellbeing Centre. It gives me pleasure meeting new people and doing activities with the customers, it also helps me with my own wellbeing as living on my own can be lonely at times. I have now volunteered for over 20 years and hope to volunteer for many more years, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Service Update 1st June 2020
Customer Update
We have one customer, within our Dementia Connections service, with C19 symptoms and no customer deaths from the virus, where we provide the customer’s care.
This is incredible to be this far through the pandemic, it is not luck but down to everyone single one of our team who have upheld our infection controls.
Staff Update
We end the last week in May with a slight increase to staff absences. This is now at 6% having risen from 5%. This is still an enviable figure allowing us to continue to deliver services as normal.
Phase 1
We remain in Phase 1, of our Exit Plans, until at least 14 June 2020, and we will continue as we are until further notice.
Our Chief Executive, Dawn McNally will prepare and circulate a summary of the year and present it very soon as we move through Phase 2 of the Exit Plan, and then our plans for this year in Phase 3.
In other News
We are delighted to announce that we have again maintained our CHAS status which ultimately means our health and safety systems and processes are fit for purpose, and are well managed. Thanks to Angela Dawson who leads on this process for steering us through this assessment despite the challenges of C19.
Recognition
We have received two very special messages this week, one from the Mrs Susan M Winfield OBE, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant, who wrote “to Dawn McNally and all at Age UK North Tyneside & EveryDay Care, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the incredible support and service you have given throughout the Covid-19 crisis. My wholehearted thanks for all you have contributed and my best wishes”.
The second was a letter from Councillor, Carole Burdis a member of North Tyneside’s Cabinet. It is fantastic to have received this kind of recognition for our organisation.
Charity Performance
Our Charity performance for the year ended 31 March 2020 was reported into the Board of Trustees last week and we are pleased to confirm that we achieved 29 out of 33 strategic objectives, and ended the year with a surplus of £61k, a great result and another strong year’s performance.
We have again achieved an awful lot on behalf of older people in North Tyneside.
Volunteer Week
As a group we are fortunate to have the support of literally hundreds of volunteers who provide their own time to us and to our customers. Many have been able to continue to support us even during Covid-19 which is an incredible feat. We will be celebrating some of their fantastic stories this week during Volunteer Week. A huge thank you goes to them for everything they do which assists us in ultimately providing the service we can in North Tyneside.
North Tyneside Chairman’s Commendation Scheme sees Linskill Volunteers Awarded with Bronze Awards.
North Tyneside Council looks to build strong, active communities within North Tyneside and thinks volunteers lie at the heart of that.
Annually the Chairman invites members of the public to nominate a person or group who deserve recognition for their voluntary service. The Chairman’s Commendation and Young Mayor’s Awards are open to everyone who volunteers within the Borough of North Tyneside.
Volunteering Award Categories
All types of volunteering are considered for the awards but activities must be outside of paid employment. The nominees don’t need to live in North Tyneside, but the activities they are nominated for must take place here. Nominations are judged by a panel who make the final decision on awards.
Nominees should have voluntarily contributed their time and effort in North Tyneside to one or more of the following:
- creating a clean and pleasant environment
- creating a safe and crime free neighbourhood
- increasing training and working opportunities for residents
- improving health, quality of life and wellbeing for other people
- making a significant difference to an individual or their local community
- supporting the provision within North Tyneside of sport, leisure, cultural activities, religions and community affairs, social services
- helping others to reach their potential
- responding to an immediate need, significantly affecting the lives of others
- going ‘the extra mile’ as a ‘local hero’
There are various levels of award:
- general commendation
- bronze
- silver and gold
- the Young Mayor’s commendation award
Linksill’s Local Heros
Jill Corner and Lynn Hetherington volunteer at Linskill Park Wellbeing Centre providing social activities and interaction for customers who are living with dementia. The two ladies were nominated by Janice Morton, Team Leader at Linskill and Michelle Clement Wellbeing Centre Manager. The team there felt that the ladies’ outstanding contribution deserved recognition. Janice said “Lynn and Jill give of their own time freely to support those less able than themselves. In doing so they bring joy to our customers and the staff here find their support invaluable. Customers really look forward to and engage with them and in doing so we all benefit”
Jill and Lynn were both awarded the Bronze Award and will be presented with these on June 19th at the Council offices by the Chairman himself. We’d like to personally express our gratitude for their ongoing support.
To learn more about our Wellbeing Centre offer https://everydayuk.org/wellbeing/
To learn more about the Chairman’s Commendation and to make a nomination https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/313/chairman
To learn more about volunteering with us https://www.ageuk.org.uk/northtyneside/get-involved/volunteer/