Support Line Volunteer (Triage)

Our challenge
Our Support and Information team offer a wide range of inclusive and accessible services to support those diagnosed with a brain tumour and their families.

One of our most critical services is our Support and Information Line, which is open between 9am-5pm, Monday—Friday. This service offers a place for people affected by a brain tumour diagnosis, to ask questions or raise concerns about a diagnosis, and how to support a loved one. We continue to see an increase in people accessing these services, and strive to work in smarter ways to manage this increase.

How can you help?
We’re looking for volunteers to help us make sure the Support Line runs more efficiently, by answering calls and asking a small number of specific questions to ensure the caller is transferred/triaged to the most appropriate support for them. This role also has the opportunity to develop into providing support to the community about specific areas.

• Answer incoming calls to the Support Line with empathy and understanding
• Ask specific questions to understand the caller’s support needs and transfer to the appropriate teams
•  Accurately record information about the call onto our secure database
• Assist the support team in specific project areas where appropriate
• Respond to support emails from our community
• Support our digital support team with our peer support groups on Facebook • The role could develop into providing support over the phone regarding specific areas  

What impact will you have?

This is an opportunity to be the first point of contact for our community, ensuring those that we support get the best service possible.

We’re looking for...

• Experience or confidence in answering calls and speaking on the phone
• Strong IT and computer skills, ideally experience of using databases
• Ability to demonstrate a high degree of empathy and resilience
• Active listening and strong communication skills
• Ability to separate own experiences from others, offering support and signposting in a non judgemental way
• Confidence to work autonomously and as part of a team
• Organisation and reliability
• Demonstrable understanding of confidential working

We particularly encourage applications from those who are significantly underrepresented in our sector, including individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.

What can I gain from volunteering with you?

• You’ll have the opportunity to utilise your existing skills, while developing and learning new ones to take forward into the future
• You’ll join a friendly, passionate team and develop an understanding of how this team at The Charity operates
• The satisfaction of knowing that you’re assisting those affected by a brain tumour diagnosis to gain the appropriate support
• The opportunity to expand the role in the future, by taking on additional training

Time commitment

To ensure we have volunteer cover for the full Support Line opening hours, we are looking for volunteers to commit between 1-4 hours a week. However, are open to talking about the regularity of these shifts.

The available times that we currently have are:

• Monday, 9am—10am
• Monday’s, 1pm-5pm
• Tuesday’s, 9am-10am
• Tuesday’s, 12.30pm-5pm
• Wednesday’s, 9am-10am
• Every other Thursday, 9am-1pm
• Friday’s, 1pm - 5pm

Due to the continuous training involved, we would ask that volunteers commit to a minimum of six months spent volunteering with us. This is a remote role where you can volunteer from home. You will have regular contact with our Support and Information team who, while facing tough challenges along the way, look out for each other and nurture an inspiring, positive team environment.

Practical considerations

You’ll receive a full online induction to The Brain Tumour Charity and specific training for the role, as well as training on the use of our database and phone system.

You’ll receive weekly supervision after each shift and ongoing support through online webinars, emails and telephone calls, from a team member within the Support team. You’ll have the opportunity to keep in touch and gain support from other volunteers in the same role.

Incoming support call numbers may vary, so some shifts may be quieter than others. We’ve created a number of different activities that you can get involved in between calls, if you would like to. This role has the opportunity for development to other areas of the support team— guidance and training will be provided for this.

We carry out reference checks for all individuals who will be volunteering with us on a regular basis. Volunteers will also be required to complete some internal data protection and disclosure documentation before commencing the role. Volunteers must be over 18.