Volunteers

Who are our volunteers?

We continually recruit enthusiastic volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds to join our team. We're lucky to have many very skilled people who have been with us several years.

Our great team provide sensitive one-to-one support to all our members to help them engage fully in all activities.

We have behind-the-scenes volunteers too, who look after our finances, legal issues, fundraising and communications. Other jobs include DIY, leaf shredding, bucket-donation-collecting at events, and lots more! Without their commitment and input Chrysalis would not be able to function.

Our volunteers are a fantastic bunch of people. They devote their time to help people with ongoing memory problems or dementia and really enjoy what they do:

Some are continuing to use their professional skills and giving something back in retirement
Others are building up their work experience and getting useful skills to add to their CVs
We also welcome young people joining us for a few weeks to learn something interesting during their school holidays

Regular volunteers have statutory checks, induction, training and mentoring from the experienced care professionals on our board.

We have opportunities at both Hexham, and our Prudhoe district satellite sessions at Wylam.

Join the team

Our volunteers need to:

have a calm and friendly approach and an interest in getting to know our members and help them have a relaxing fun time
commit to attending a session regularly at Hexham or Wylam (though this can be weekly or monthly – or be involved with only one activity – e.g. singing, or pottery)
listen and learn from others
attend training, provide references and have a DBS check
join in activities with members and support them to participate as fully as they are able. It is hard sometimes to tell who is enjoying the session more!
help organise the day, prepare materials, refreshments and enable the sessions to run smoothly, including washing up and tidying after and during the sessions

Interested in volunteering?

If you would like to become a volunteer please contact us to arrange a visit and a chat to get a feel of our ethos and approach. You can join in a session and have first-hand experience of how the sessions are run.

Our induction training programme introduces potential volunteers to Chrysalis. It provides information on:

the nature and implications of dementia and background/aims of Chrysalis
how dementia can affect people
how dementia can affect the whole family
tips and procedures to help interact with members and provide a safe and fun environment

At Chrysalis you will be joining a supportive team. We all learn together what works best to produce an engaging and pleasurable atmosphere, where members, their families and volunteers can all enjoy an afternoon’s activity together.

We support our volunteers through regular feedback meetings and forums. These allow our volunteers to explore with each other and a Board member, how we can continually improve the sessions, and plan ways forward.

Case studies