INFORMATION ABOUT VOLUNTEERING

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief or bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

Henri Nouwen from "Out of Solitude"

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Bereaved Families of Ontario – Toronto. Our organization works from a mutual support model – the bereaved helping the bereaved - and we would not exist without the commitment and support of our members and volunteers.

• personal bereavement experience (for peer facilitation role)
  
• professional experience working with groups and knowledge of grief and loss (for professional advisor role)
  
• an understanding of how your own loss history has affected you
  
• time, energy and a desire to learn and grow personally and professionally
  
• openness to receiving feedback
  
• skills and talents to help our organization provide the best support possible to bereaved individuals and families
  
• an ability to make a commitment for a minimum of one year for direct service roles
  
• an understanding and support of our organization’s Mission & Values

• why do you want to volunteer at BFO-Toronto?
  
• what do you hope to gain from the experience?
  
• how will volunteering fit into your life?
  
• how can you best make a contribution?

• One support group per year which includes:
  
• One 2 or 3 hour session (mostly evenings), once a week for 9 or 10 weeks
  
• One group supervision session at the end of the group cycle
  
• One follow-up session within 6 weeks of completion of group
  
• On occasion, peer facilitators may be asked to conduct one-to-one support meetings for newly bereaved adults
  
• Ongoing professional development opportunities twice a year including our annual Community Building Day, held the last weekend in January

• if after successfully completing a screening interview (including both personal reference checks and police records checks), you are interested in volunteering in a direct service role, you will be invited to participate in our comprehensive and professional volunteer training program*
  
• for administrative, committee or fundraising roles, you will be asked to participate in a screening interview and given orientation and training specific to the role you are fulfilling
  
• a sense of fulfillment and the opportunity to be part of a community of people who contribute to an organization that “helps the healing begin….”

What’s Next:

If you would like to be considered for volunteering with BFO-Toronto, please contact Sarah Henderson, Education and Program Director at 416-440-0290 ext. 13 or shenderson@bfotoronto.ca