Volunteer 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.

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.

Interests

• Civic Responsibility and Communities
• Health and Social Care
• Mental Health

Activities

• Advice and Information
• General Helping
• Local Events
• Supporting Charities