Professionals as hospice volunteers

I have a professional mental helath counselor interested in becoming a volunteer. He would like to provide end of life counseling to one or two of our patients. Do any other programs out there use this type of professional counselor? What are the drawbacks or advantages you have discovered? Any feedback is appreciated.

Thank you

Laurie

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Replies

  • A couple of questions, 1. does your program need this? 2 How does your organization feel about this? Also, one drawback might be boundaries. If the organization is wanting professional input fine, but I feel one has to be careful. Seems to me that this is the social worker, chaplain or bereavement coordinators role.

    Let us know how it works out. I believe professional volunteers can be of great use, if they are in the right areas.

    Jennifer Thompson, CVA
    • Hi Jennifer,

      Thanks for your reply. I agree that boundaries might present a problem. I plan to discuss the idea with the company administrators but wanted to see what if other hospices were using this type of professional volunteer.

      Laurie 

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