We are currently looking for volunteers to deliver our Verbal Wellbeing programme to Care Homes and Radius Folds.

Verbal Wellbeing uses a shared reading model to talk about mental health and wellbeing with older people.

The commitment
• The minimum commitment is one or two hours per week but can include extra time to prepare and collect
materials or to travel to a group.
• These projects will run for 12 weeks. Timings are agreed with the Care Home/Fold and guided by the volunteer's
availability. Volunteers are also invited and encouraged to attend volunteer meetings and events.
• As part of the programme, we collect data and feedback from the participants this helps inform our programmes
going forward. This will be provided by Verbal, the materials we need to collect from each group are:
• Enrolment forms
• Pre surveys
• Post surveys
• Post programme evaluations
• Weekly feedback collection from group on the story

The Location
Reading rooms are delivered out in Care Homes and Folds across Northern Ireland. The current locations of opportunity within Care Homes and Radius Folds are:
• Derry/ Londonderry
• Belfast
• Portadown
• Strabane
• Newtownabbey
• Antrim

Training and support
All Reading Rooms volunteers will receive a full training package to enable them to confidently deliver within the project.
This includes
• Shared Reading training (2 half days)

• E Learning
• Enhanced Access NI check
• Safeguarding NI (2 hours)
• Observations for quality checks

This will be covered by Verbal. Out of pocket expenses and travel are also covered by Verbal but this must be agreed in advance with the project co-ordinator.
We will touch base with you weekly for feedback and support throughout the 12 weeks.
This begins with Verbal’s Facilitation Skills for Shared Reading