This work can be intense, and volunteers may be exposed to stories of heavy or traumatic experiences. The women and families we support may have intense needs and may at times come across as demanding. It is important for volunteers to know what to do and who to call if things start to feel intense, overly heavy or overwhelming. It is also important to have robust support structures in place in order to enable ongoing learning, development and growth – and of course for prayer, for yourself as a volunteer and for those you are engaging with.
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Within Thrive
Kat Gibson (Thrive Coordinator) will give you primary support in your volunteer role; she will be available to discuss any matters of concern you may have. Please do not hesitate to get in touch at any time about any matter relating to Thrive or your volunteer role. She may not respond immediately but will make time to discuss with you any areas of concern.
You will also have informal peer support from one another – the Thrive volunteer team! Do feel free to discuss with one another your learning, any joys and struggles you may have relating to your volunteer role, or other relevant topics. You can do this in person or via the Thrive Team WhatsApp group, or individually as mutually agreed between you. Please be willing to informally support other volunteers where appropriate, and to pray for one another.
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Pastoral Supervision
You will also need to identify another individual who you can pray with regularly and talk to about issues that arise for you. We call this role a ‘pastoral supervisor’, and it is an essential part of the support structure for all Thrive volunteers. If desired, we can provide some conversation starter questions for your supervision sessions together. These can be informal.
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Prayer
It is great to encourage friends to pray for your volunteer work with Thrive, in order to support and encourage you – and to pray for people you encounter. Some people like to set up a WhatsApp group to share prayer requests and updates with trusted people, or some people find it easier just to contact specific individuals with prayer requests.
When sharing prayer requests and updates:
- Do not share any identifiable details of any of the people we support. E.g. rather than sharing a first name, it’s best to just use a letter (e.g. ‘Pray for K’).
- You can give a brief overview of the needs expressed and your hopes for the person, but it’s best not to give lots of detail. If someone has shared a traumatic incident or heavy story with you, talk about this with your Supervisor (without identifiable details), and with Kat Gibon (Thrive Coordinator) if appropriate. Any safeguarding disclosures must be shared with Kat Gibson ASAP, in order to follow up appropriately.
- Celebrate answers to prayer! E.g. if people pray for someone’s housing situation and then they receive housing – let them know!
- (Make sure you follow our Confidentiality Policy and Data Protection Policy at all times.)
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Your Church
It is expected that all Thrive volunteers are active members of a Church and attend regularly. (Thrive is not a Church and cannot provide your primary pastoral and discipleship support.) Your church should be able to offer pastoral support for all its members through things like small-groups, the opportunity to pray with someone or ask advice, and regular services involving teaching and opportunity to worship together with others. Pastoral or discipleship issues may arise during your time volunteering at Thrive, that you need to work through with the support of your Church – this will be your own responsibility to arrange where desired.
It may be that your Church would like to commit to supporting your volunteer role through regular organised prayer (e.g. asking the Church community to pray for you as part of their regular rhythms, whatever that might look like) or in other ways. We heartily encourage this!
If your Church leaders are interested in having a conversation about how else they might support you or partner with Thrive, we would be delighted to have a conversation with them to explore that together.
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Expenses
Thrive isn’t normally able to reimburse you for expenses incurred through your volunteering work. If our financial situation changes and we become in a position to do so, we will let you know – this is the hope for the future but we’re not quite there yet.
If your Church are able to reimburse you for expenses incurred through your volunteering work with Thrive, that could be a lovely opportunity for your Church to feel more involved. Should this be a possibility your Church are willing to explore, we can look to implement a secondment arrangement: you could officially volunteer for your Church and be seconded to Thrive – or we could simply put together a support agreement between you, your Church and Thrive.
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We will ask you to identify specifics relating to your own support structures in your Volunteer Working Agreement.
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