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Good Practice

 

Support and Supervision
Assessing support needs
Peer and mentor support
Monitoring volunteer progression
General

Assessing support needs

A flexible package of ongoing support

A+ Volunteering at Volunteer Centre Kensington & Chelsea encourages and supports disabled people and people with mental and physical health needs to get involved with volunteering.

The project works with volunteers who have additional support needs resulting from:

Physical or sensory impairment

Mental health issues

Learning disability or difficulties

Other hidden disability or illness

It supports volunteers to make a valued contribution to their communities through volunteering, and to develop new skills, interests, confidence and independence.

For some volunteers the support will be very practical – help with application forms, travelling to a project, or meeting new people; for others, simply reassurance that an impairment or health concern will not preclude volunteering, and encouragement with taking the initial steps.

The Volunteer Centre may also discuss with an organisation how a role could be developed or adjusted to suit an individual’s particular skills and needs.

In every case, the Centre works closely with both the volunteer and the chosen placement to ensure that a good match is made.

All new volunteers have an initial one to one meeting with the A+ Volunteering staff to establish interests, current skills and experience, availability, and what support the volunteer would like from either the Volunteer Centre or a placement project in order to volunteer successfully. The aims of the meeting are to:

Make the prospective volunteer feel welcome and comfortable with the Volunteer Centre

Ensure the prospective volunteer understands what A+ Volunteering does and offers

Discuss what kind of volunteering the prospective volunteer is interested in

Discuss volunteer support needs and what they think they would need and from whom they would like this support

Agree on a plan of action

When the potential volunteer is referred to the project from Social or Health Services or a voluntary sector organisation, a keyworker (or equivalent) is often involved with this initial process if this is helpful to the individual volunteer.

Thirsk, Sowerby and District Community Care Association: Programme of ongoing support

Support for volunteers is provided by the Volunteer Co-ordinator who is responsible for volunteer induction and on-going support. If volunteers have any issues or concerns, these can be addressed with the Volunteer Co-ordinator.

Training is offered to volunteers who are encouraged to attend when possible. Some training is a requirement of certain voluntary activities.

The Association has structured procedures for arranging and agreeing ongoing supervision and support with volunteers, set out through a volunteer arrangement for supervision/support form and a volunteer support/supervision record.

The volunteer arrangement for supervision/support form sets out the principal functions of the supervisory process, which are:

The content of the supervisory sessions include:

The frequency, length and location of the programme of supervision/support are agreed with the volunteer through this process.

A confidential volunteer support/supervision record is maintained, which for each session records the agreed agenda and notes down in relation to each topic/issue:

High quality support

Support and supervision is provided to all volunteers. This involves a recorded one to one session with a line manager.

In order to manage ongoing support to volunteers, there is a national database, called the Volunteer Recording Management System. Details of names addresses etc of all volunteers are kept on this system. Supervision records are also held electronically with the volunteers keeping a paper copy if they do not have ongoing access to IT.

People with disabilities have varying support needs and these have to be taken into account when engaging with them. The Project will discuss with such volunteers their plans for personal development and work with them to achieve their goals.

The Project has been able to provide a support person who works with a young volunteer with visual impairments and hearing impairment as he edits the magazine Barnardos’ produces for service users.

Access to volunteering needs extra resources and the Project has accommodated the extra expense of several people with mobility problems over the past year.

Part of “The Party’s” aims is to develop opportunities that take into account the needs of the individual. So instead of just advertising a particular opportunity The Party will develop a new opportunity to respond to a volunteer’s interest or need.

Joining “The Party” is one way of ensuring that young volunteers are able to feedback about their experiences and show “The Party” how to ensure volunteer opportunities reflect their interests and meet their needs.

The Project has talked about “Virtual “Opportunities that could be carried out by people at home, but these discussions are in the early stages.

Peer and mentor support

Bolton Lads and Girls Club: Ongoing mentor support

Procedures for ongoing and consistent mentor support are in place, particularly at critical stages in the 'volunteer life cycle'. In this regard Karen Edwards, the Mentoring Project Manager at Bolton Lads and Girls Club commented:

“It’s being aware of what we call the ‘volunteer life cycle’. There are key points within a volunteer experience with us where we are likely to have to put a bit more effort in with them because they become a bit more de-motivated. The honeymoon stage has been and gone. We have been able to pinpoint when those times are likely to be and give those volunteers a bit more attention, more support and motivate them a little bit more.”

Bolton and Lads Club have found that a procedure for ongoing and consistent Mentor support and supervision to be an essential element in retaining mentors and providing them with a positive experience whilst mentoring for the organisation.

After the match with a young person has taken place the Mentoring Co-ordinator is in weekly contact with both the Mentor and Mentee to ensure they have met and to resolve any possible issues. This weekly contact ensures that both parties are aware of what is expected and Bolton Lads and Girls Club can provide support and direction when required for them. A weekly contact sheet is filled in which is totalled up across the Project. For both the youngster and the volunteer mentor to get the most out of mentoring it is considered that they should meet each week. In this regard Karen commented:

“In the mentoring field of work we speak to various different mentoring projects and a lot of them are astounded as to how much contact we actually have with our volunteer mentors. We do expect to be able to contact them every week without fail”.

Targets are set to ensure that at least 70% of their matched pairs meet each week. All telephone calls and other forms of contact are logged onto the report sheet function on the Project’s comprehensive database recording system. After two weeks of being matched up, the Mentor will receive a call from the Volunteer Co-ordinator, to ensure that the early stages of the match are going well, that the support is in place and that the experience of Mentoring is as they expected. This has been identified as an important stage in the volunteer’s life cycle to ensure expectations are met. This is logged. One month after being matched with a Mentee, the Mentor has their first supervision with their Co-ordinator. This is to formally record how the formative stages of the match are progressing. Two months after the match, the Mentor is asked to come in for an optional Development Review. During this review meeting training is discussed and how effective it has been practically. Support and the long-term personal development aims of the mentor in regard to further training, career prospects etc. are discussed. After three months from the first supervision, the next supervision takes place and these then take place every three months. Again, computer-generated reports ensure that these supervisions happen regularly. In addition, Mentors are kept informed of other events such as Mentor Forum evenings, pre-match meetings and social events by weekly telephone contact and letter.

Central to Bolton Lads and Girls Club strategy for the recruitment and retention of volunteer mentors is the framework by which it is ensured that all volunteers have the opportunity to be involved in the planning, delivery and evaluation process of the project and that there are mechanisms by which volunteers are valued, recognised and rewarded. The process for involvement starts as soon as a volunteer attends training. Feedback is collated after each session. Peer support and discussion forums are used as the basis to most of training sessions. This allows the volunteers the opportunity to share ideas and experiences and give honest and open feedback. In addition, volunteers are encouraged to provide information relating to their experience as a volunteer on a regular basis via:

The Prince’s Trust: Supporting volunteers into different activities

Although a volunteer may have been recruited for a specific programme, all volunteers are encouraged to see themselves as part of the wider organisation and consider other volunteering activities. They are introduced to other aspects of the Prince’s Trust work.

The Trust tries to involve volunteer mentors in other programmes, not just one to one mentoring. It was pointed out that involvement of volunteer mentors in other programmes can benefit young clients, as the mentor will be in a better position to signpost young people to particular programmes. In this way, all programmes run by the Trust compliment the mentoring process.

An important aspect of the induction process is to inform prospective volunteers of what the different programmes are and help them to make informed choices. After induction a one to one session takes place at which volunteers are asked to see how they see themselves volunteering, with a number of different options open to volunteers at this stage. These include one to one mentoring, Development Award Assessors, the Business Programme and Excel Club.

Volunteers are also encouraged to take part in ongoing training in specific topics, perhaps leading to accreditation.

The Trust responds positively to volunteers indicating they wish to become accredited in specific areas. The opportunities open to volunteers for further development are enhanced because a number of different agencies share training with the Trust.

Volunteer records are used to help volunteers to move on or change direction. Once matched up with a client, review sheets are completed each time mentors meet a client. A review meeting takes place with the support worker every three months. After six months there is a formal review.

However, it was also pointed out that the Trust has an ‘open door’ policy, which means volunteers can liase with their support worker at any time. This means that a volunteer can raise a request for further training at any time, which the Prince’s Trust will try to address.

It was stressed that communication between the support worker and volunteer is absolutely critical to the success of supervision and volunteer management.

It was also commented that “you can’t just recruit and say now that is it”, but you need some continuity of contact from recruitment, through induction and supervision.

Somerset Youth Volunteering network: Making volunteering enjoyable

The Project adopts an operational philosophy that recognises that young people are more likely to stay and perform well as volunteers if it is an enjoyable experience . Youth 4 Youth mentoring training draws upon non traditional school based teaching methods such as role play, drama, video making, art and game playing. Adopting such methods make for a more relaxed, fun and interactive training experience which helps to ensure that volunteer mentors keep coming back for more.

The success of this approach is underlined by the fact that the Youth 4 Youth reputation as being a dynamic and fun organisation to be part of, means that two thirds of all the volunteers SYVN work with have had a personal recommendation to join given by a close friend.

Scott Macmillan from SYVN explains that the approach to training adopted by SYVN originally ‘went by the book’ but it was clear that this did not work with young people. The organisation now has a mantra regarding volunteer training, which is:

In relation to keeping it fast it was commented that “young people want to sign up this morning and start this afternoon”. Each training level relating to Youth 4 Youth takes about a couple of hours.

The organisation recognises that young people volunteer to do something they enjoy and feel respected in. Training is therefore not undertaken in conventional classroom settings but in all sorts of different locations, including skateboard parks. Scott commented:

“We will do training sessions anywhere”.

In relation to keeping it safe, a range of support mechanisms have been established including:

In order to keep training focused the importance of fully involving young people in decision making and asking for their views is stressed.

As part of the whole process of keeping young people engaged and ensuring volunteering is perceived as an enjoyable experience the importance of treating paid staff and volunteers equally is also underlined. In this respect it was commented:

“As far as I’m concerned if you are a volunteer, that is simply how much you get paid. You are there as a member of staff of that organisation and therefore entitled to everything that every other member of staff is entitled to at that level”

 

Darlington Association on Disability (DAD): Active Involvement of Disabled People in Recruitment and Retention

Darlington Association on Disability, (DAD), is a charity led by disabled people to promote independence and choice, and to support disabled people and carers through the provision of services, support, and information. DAD manages a range of services and projects, and places and supports volunteers with external organisations.

DAD has an equal access volunteering project to recruit, support and train disabled people and young people into volunteering. As a good practice in this project, disabled people are actively engaged in the recruitment process. The main features of this best practice are as follows:

Role models - encourage and arrange for volunteers to act as role models by sharing their experiences with prospective volunteers;

 

Monitoring volunteer progression

The Prince’s Trust: Monitoring the progress of volunteer mentors

The Prince’s Trust East Lancashire Community Project carefully monitors the progress of volunteer mentors.

The involvement of support workers is critical and this is done regularly and with a degree of formality.

The Prince’s Trust East Lancashire Community Project has clear procedures in place to guide the monitoring of volunteer mentors by support workers, set out under a number of principles for volunteer management:

Know your volunteer: This is identified as the best form of management and will help both the support worker and volunteer achieve the joint goals set for time with the Trust

Regular contact with the volunteer: It is important for both parties that regular contact is kept between the Trust and the volunteer to ensure that:

Annual Review: The aim of the Annual Review is to maximise the volunteers contribution to the Trust and to ensure volunteers feel valued and are part of the organisation.

It provides and opportunity for the support worker to:

Regular contact and good management ensure that problems are identified at an early stage when they are more easily dealt with. The Review Process offers one opportunity to do this.

General

Volunteer Centre Sutton: Supervision and support

With large numbers of volunteers and a wide range of services and activities spread across the borough, Volunter Centre Sutton believes it is of key importance to get supervision, support, and monitoring right. To this end there is regular and close contact between supervisors and volunteers in order to pick up on issues early. A set of measures is are used to involve volunteers that include: consultation and feedback; regular telephone contact with outsourced volunteers; and ensuring that volunteers understand the availability of continued support.

Volunteer Centre Sutton offers all in-house volunteers regular support and supervision, as appropriate to their role and in response to their requirements. This includes:

Monthly follow-up calls with direct service volunteers (drivers, shoppers, etc). All other volunteers who are not based in the office receive follow-up calls from the Centre.

Home-Start Leeds: Ongoing support

Home-Start Leeds provides extensive ongoing support to volunteers delivering services to families. This includes:

Easy access to and regular contact with a co-ordinator

One to one support & supervision contacts, at least monthly

Because Home-Start Leeds want to make volunteering accessible to anyone who feels they have something to offer a family, the organisation does not restrict volunteering hours, but accommodates volunteers in terms of the times they are able to offer.

However, Home-Start recognised that if they were going to open up volunteering to suit the hours volunteers could make and match these hours to the needs of particular families, then “we can’t say to the volunteers, if you have a problem with the family or a difficulty with the family, or have a child protection issue, you can only ring us between 9 and 4.30. This doesn’t work”.

It was recognised that to have that flexibility, there was a need to have a contact that volunteers could use out of office hours. Otherwise it was felt that volunteers would not feel confident to undertake volunteering at such times.

In order to tackle this issue there is a phone number that every volunteer can ring, no matter what time of day or night and get the particular issue resolved. In practice, it is very rarely used, because people respect it. All volunteers have a list of all staff home phone numbers and all trustees home phone numbers. Particular contacts are designated for particular days/times, but in the event these are not contactable, volunteers can use any of the other contacts on the list.

Richmond CVS: Ongoing support to volunteers

In addition to high quality training a range of mechanisms are in place to provide ongoing support to volunteers.

Volunteers on the WinG project experience an open ended process in which there is formal training and preparation for governance roles, after which there is a forum where volunteers meet regularly in different locations. The subject matter of the forum meetings is wide ranging and includes topics such as family issues, money, and options for volunteering. There are also guest speakers.

Active Fora are operational in each of the 3 boroughs to provide ongoing inspiration and support for WinG ’s volunteers after the training course, attracting high profile speakers including local politicians, business and voluntary sector leaders. Through a partnership with charity REACH, WinG offers all volunteers the potential to be matched with a mentor providing ongoing support.

One-to-one sessions are also provided at regular intervals by the WinG team, enabling the identification of progression routes into sustainable volunteering. Volunteers also receive regular newsletter updates from the WinG team via post and the web.

As part of its work WinG is also producing a Good Practice Guide to Diversity in Governance, with a particular focus on the role of women on governing bodies. This is structured as follows:

Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in Cornwall, (WRSAC): Overcoming Barriers to Recruitment

The Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in Cornwall, (WRSAC), delivers accessible, reliable, and effective support services for women who have experienced rape, sexual abuse, and domestic violence.

The North, East, and Mid areas of Cornwall have a population of around 250,000, 74% of which live in isolated rural communities. It is also an area of poverty, economic disadvantage, and social exclusion, and with poor transport. In these circumstances the ability to recruit women into volunteering depends on overcoming actual and perceived barriers to engagement. WRSAC has developed its approach to this as a good practice, the main features of which are as follows:

Torridge Voluntary Services (TVS): Grassroots Toolkit

Torridge Voluntary Services (TVS) is the Council for Voluntary Services for Torridge District in Devon. TVS provides infrastructure support for the voluntary and community sectors and volunteering in Torridge, as well as providing direct services.

The Grassroots project at TVS aims to create a sustainable culture of volunteering in rurally isolated and hard to reach communities, and a collective approach to enhancing community well-being. TVS has developed the good practice of providing a "toolkit and information pack" to all of their Community Contacts to help them to function as "micro" volunteer centres in their particular community. The main features of this Toolkit are as follows:

 
 
 
 

The Volunteer Centre Tameside (VCT): Enabling Involvement of Disabled Volunteers

The Volunteer Centre Tameside (VCT) acts as a broker, matching volunteers to volunteering opportunities throughout Tameside. The Centre can give advice, training, and support to organisations seeking volunteer help. VCT also has a variety of volunteering projects.

VCT, in partnership with others, runs a project (Building Bridges), to offer long term support to disabled volunteers. The work that the centre does to enable the involvement of disabled volunteers is seen as a good practice, the main features of which are as follows:

 

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