Volunteer Bereavement Cafe Facilitator

Volunteer Bereavement Cafe Facilitator

Posted for St Helena Hospice

Posted by Volunteer Essex

Register your interest

You will be redirected to the Volunteer Essex website to express your interest.

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.

What skills do I need?

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.

Personal attributes 

• Passionate about St Helena 

• Understanding of grief and bereavement 

• Attention to detail 

 • Good communication skills 

• Reliable and trustworthy 

 • Able to maintain confidentiality 

• Be comfortable approaching and engaging with members of the public 

• Team player with a friendly outlook.