Volunteer – Community Bereavement Cafe Facilitator

Role summary

Community Bereavement Cafés are welcoming and open spaces for people to talk about their grief.  Facilitators help run and facilitate the cafes.

A standard DBS check will be required for this role.

Main duties of this role may include any of the following:

·        Help prepare the venue for the café set up – positioning chairs, preparing refreshments, making the seating welcoming and conducive to a positive experience.

·        Welcome people as they arrive.

·        Provide name labels to ensure people are known by name.

·        Identify newcomers and assist them to settle in – making introductions and offering a helping hand to begin with. Being sure to withdraw yourself from the group when it feels right to allow peer support to take over and blossom.

·        Offer and make drinks, clear cups etc.

·        Facilitate a session in the Cafe after receiving bereavement training.

·        Give notice before the café is due to end so that people can draw their conversations to a close.

·        Occasionally, at the end, distribute feedback forms to participants to complete anonymously.

·        When everyone has left, put the room back to how it was before the café started.

·        Escalate any concerns or worries about attendees to the Cafe lead.

·        Uphold strict confidentiality and maintain professional boundaries at all times.

Training & supervision

·        Training provided in understanding grief and bereavement, communication and active listening skills, facilitating group spaces, safeguarding, boundaries, referral pathways, cafe operations and practical logistics.

·        Monthly supervision/support.

·        Ongoing training as required.

Experience & qualifications required

·        Having excellent communication and listening skills.

·        Ability to join in conversation and contribute appropriately.

·        Happy chatting in a group or individually.

·        Allowing others to speak and give them space to do that.

·        Being comfortable discussing bereavement, death, dying and loss.

·        Ability to judge the correct moment to leave a conversation, and have the confidence and skills to do that.

·        Ability to effectively facilitate groups – creating a supportive environment in which everyone feels able and welcome to contribute, and in which no one person dominates to the detriment of others.

·        Friendly and approachable.

·        Empathic · Calm · Non-judgemental.

·        Flexible in approach · Emotional intelligence, and alertness while facilitating.

·        Being able to read situations and act appropriately.

·        Reliable and punctual.

·        Understand, and maintain the boundaries of your role.

·        Well-developed coping strategies and resilience in discussing difficult feelings and bereavement.

·        Able to respect, and maintain, people’s confidentiality.

·        Able to ask for help and advice when situations arise that are beyond your own knowledge, capabilities, or comfort levels.

·        To be self-reflective and make full use of supervision.