4.1 ‘How am I supported?’

Volunteers need to be well supported to effectively undertake their roles and make a difference. This involves ensuring they can carry out their role in a safe and supportive environment. The practice of keeping volunteers safe goes beyond the legal health and safety requirements and is concerned with a broader sense of ‘wellbeing’.

In a recent paper on volunteering and wellbeing, personal wellbeing was defined as:

(Linning and Jackson, 2018 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] )

In relation to health and safety, groups and organisations have a duty of care towards their people (including volunteers) so there is a need to assess potential risks and ensure the safety of volunteers. There is a section for voluntary organisations on the Health and Safety Executive website that outlines how the law applies when involving volunteers and contains useful checklists and guidance.

In this video, Tania at GALE talks about how they consider volunteers’ health and safety and wellbeing. She then goes on to talk about the value of support being provided in a relaxed and friendly environment as a way of building a positive relationship with volunteers.

Download this video clip.Video player: Tania, Volunteer Co-ordinator, GALE. All rights reserved.

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Transcript: Tania, Volunteer Co-ordinator, GALE. All rights reserved.

Tania

Volunteer’s wellbeing and safety is really important to us. We have standard policies and procedures, we do risk assessments for all of the roles, and health and safety. Insurance is all kept up to date and includes volunteers, as well as, volunteers are also included in the fire drills. For their wellbeing we make sure that they have regular reviews, which are usually very informal, and when volunteers first start, they tend to quiet frequent to make sure that they’re settling in, that everything is ok, that the role is suitable for them, and then over time we will gradually space them out a bit more. So initially they might be weekly and then monthly. And then we aim to have regular reviews every six to three months, depending on the individual volunteer’s needs. The staff also feedback to us regularly, to let us know how they are getting on and raise any concerns. If it’s too formal it can create a bit of a barrier between us and volunteers, and that’s not what we want, we want them to understand that we are there to support them, if their having issues with staff that we will address them and that they are being listened to. So very often we will all sit down and just have a cup of tea, maybe some cake, and just have a sort of general chat. It just might be about their lives, what’s going on for them. And through that we can learn a lot about what their needs are, and we can develop that relationship and trust.

End transcript: Tania, Volunteer Co-ordinator, GALE. All rights reserved.

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Tania, Volunteer Co-ordinator, GALE. All rights reserved.

Considering that support needs to be proportionate to the context, for the Kilmaurs Gala Committee support is informal and often focused on wellbeing. Volunteers said, ‘We look out for each other’, and ‘We support each other and work as a team. We help each other and if someone can’t do a role or task we divvy it up and all take a role.’

Support can be both emotional and practical and it is important that volunteers know whom to go to for support, and that they feel able to raise any concerns should they arise. As Tania mentioned in the video, role-related support will involve catching up with volunteers to find out how they are getting on. Depending on the size of your group or organisation, it might also be necessary to communicate with other relevant staff members to find out how volunteers are getting on.

Jordan talks about his support for personal circumstances while volunteering, and how safeguarding training ensures he is not at risk.

Download this video clip.Video player: Jordan, Volunteer, LGBT Youth Scotland. All rights reserved.

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Transcript: Jordan, Volunteer, LGBT Youth Scotland. All rights reserved.

Jordan

I’ve been supported brilliantly by the organisation just because I’ve had to be quite flexible with uni, cause I am currently studding but I wanted to volunteer so that I can help use that volunteer practice in what am doing workwise and what am doing in my studies. I’ve also found the organisation have been brilliant because I have some health-related issues physically, so if I’ve had to take weeks off for health related issues they have been really supportive, they have found great ways at dealing with that and not made me feel any pressure in the slightest. During my training there was a great deal of how to safeguard yourself in a position, making sure that you didn’t put yourself at any risk. So if a conversation was to arise between you and one child and you could see the situation becoming uncomfortable, you got another member of staff. These were things I hadn’t actually leant in my other job, so I found that training really a benefit because I felt like I was safeguarding a position that I wouldn’t be put at risk should a situation arise.

End transcript: Jordan, Volunteer, LGBT Youth Scotland. All rights reserved.

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Jordan, Volunteer, LGBT Youth Scotland. All rights reserved.