Dementia Peer Support Group Volunteer at St. Vincents Centre (Tower House)

What does the opportunity involve doing?

Tower House is launching a new service in July to support local older people that are family/friend carers of a person living with dementia, or the person living with dementia. Part of this work is to start a Peer Support Group which will run alongside our professionally facilitated dementia sessions, and will aim to offer an additional safe, welcoming and supportive space for small groups of older people affected by dementia to come together, have a cuppa and discuss their experiences, gaining strength from others who are in similar situations. The peer support group will meet fortnightly, and we are looking for a small team of volunteers who can work in pairs to convene the groups and welcome older people with empathy, understanding and friendliness.
Typical tasks and duties will be:
-Arriving in good time and being prepared for the session
-Setting up the space (chairs, tables, resources)
-Providing basic refreshments
-Welcoming people to the group
-Relaying information to the group (learned through our training sessions)
-Listening actively
-Responding without judgement and within guidance
-Inviting discussion and comment in the group
-Providing printed information and signposting
-Ensuring an inclusive environment
-Managing group dynamics
-Looking after your own well-being
-Noticing worrying signs in the group and alerting the team
-Feeding back to the team to aid further development
-any other duties that fit within the scope of the role sensibly

What induction, training and support is offered?

-Full face to face training from our professional Dementia facilitator
-An information pack with underpinning information to support the face to face learning
-Attendance at the facilitated sessions themselves to experience the content and meet the peer group
-Induction to the work of Tower House and the SVP
-Health and Safety Briefing

What skills or qualities are needed?

-Active listening skills
-Excellent spoken English, with the ability to amend speech to suit an older audience
-Patience
-Empathy and understanding
-The ability to understand what dementia means and how it can affect people (full training will be given)
-Inclusive and fair, non-judgmental
-Ability to speak in front of a small group of older people
-Ability to attend all training provided
-A commitment to the work for a 6 month period
-Self aware with the ability to raise concerns about own well-being if necessary
-Organised
-A good timekeeper
-Able to share information - learned through training or in written materials, with the ability to signpost to other organisations
-Relatable - with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to speak to people