Namaste care service volunteer

What is Namaste Care?

Namaste Care is a person centred approach supporting people with dementia to engage in meaningful activity to promote an improved quality of life. Namaste Care is delivered using a combination of multisensory techniques and personalised resources.

• Weekly visits by a volunteer for up to two hours in the community member’s home (including care homes/ assisted living schemes)
• Support for carers and families to incorporate Namaste Care into their daily routine
• Emotional and practical support at times of difficulty and stress

Our volunteers carry out activities in their role such as:

• Visit their community member and their carer on a regular weekly basis
• Plan and provide meaningful activities; including sensory based activities e.g. playing familiar music, reading a poem, providing a hand massage, creating a memory box
• Maintain appropriate boundaries with the community member and their family
• Support the community member to maintain good hydration under guidance of the carer and within your skill level
• Support and empower the carer to continue Namaste Care
• Regularly attend monthly group share and reflect meetings

Who can be a Namaste volunteer?

We would love to hear from you if you have:

• A couple of hours per week available
• An interest in supporting people in your community who are living with dementia
• The time to commit to a minimum of six months active volunteering with the Namaste Care Service
• Clear and sensitive communication skills
• The ability to work independently
• Patience, empathy and a non-judgemental approach
• Reliability, dependability and enthusiasm
• The ability to speak another language (Please note, desirable but not essential)

Benefits include:

• Opportunity to make a difference to the lives of both the individual and their family
• Opportunity to learn new skills / develop existing skills
• Free training
• On-going support Reimbursement of travel expenses
• Provision of a reference (after minimum 6 months of active volunteering)

Training

All Namaste volunteers need to attend a two-day training course to prepare them for their role.

The next two day Namaste Volunteer Training course will take place in the Education Centre at the Hospice on: Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th February 2024. 

If you are interested in attending this training – or would like to find out more – please get in touch with the Namaste team on 020 8525 3165 or by email: namaste@stjh.org.uk.

Support

We keep in regular contact with our volunteers, not least through our monthly ‘Share and Reflect’ support meetings which are held at the Hospice. These meetings are an opportunity to meet up with other volunteers – as well as with the service coordinators – to share experiences and ideas and support each other. The meetings are really valuable, and are a part of the volunteer’s role. They are currently held on a Wednesday afternoon, from 4.30pm to 6pm.

How to volunteer

To become a Namaste volunteer you must be at least 18 years of age, and will need to go through a volunteer recruitment process. To do this you will need to:

• complete an online application form
• attend a Volunteering Information Session at the Hospice
• attend the Hospice volunteers core training day
• attend a two-day Namaste Volunteer training course
• attend an interview with a Namaste Care Coordinator
• provide two referees
• complete a DBS (criminal record) check

To talk to somebody about this role, contact the Namaste Care Team on 020 8525 3165.

If you have any questions or would like some help in completing the application form, please contact us on 020 8525 6032.