The Role Of A Volunteer

Introduction

“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good. ” — Aristotle The capability and willingness to help beyond boundaries with expecting appreciation in return is an art of volunteering. Volunteers are the establishment of numerous little to medium non-profit associations and various organizations. Volunteers enable these associations to accomplish their main goal and destinations. Volunteers play an important role while they are in therapeutic recreational settings as some of the talents they can share include: playing music, singing, being artistic (painting, photography, sculpture, knitting and drawing), assisting with community outings, movie nights, baking, and making clients feel important through quality group or one-to-one time. Volunteers can assist and conduct the program under the guidance of recreational therapist. They help in providing meaningful, worthwhile leisure opportunities for individuals who receive services, support Recreation Therapy services at Addictions, Prevention & Treatment Services, Long term care facilities Hospitals etc. The benefits of having a volunteer can be in various states as getting assistance; the most obvious advantage of a volunteer program is to get free help or for the minimal cost of running the program and providing some small tokens of appreciation to them. Utilization of volunteers is a cheap and it is an effective way to complete the tasks that there may not be otherwise have the time or resources to address.

The truly motivated volunteers can help an organization's cause and are happy to devote their time to the work place. They may exhibit more passion, fresh ideas and willingness to go above and beyond for the work place than regular employees, the resources regarding budgeting can be under control as the volunteers work out of their will and not for the payment. Even though there are benefits, managing volunteers is a difficult task as challenging as managing paid staff, even more challenging in some ways. Accountability is another factor as the volunteer could leave unexpectedly at any time. Liability is another important factor. The training, as the volunteers may not have a clinical background, when they are working with the clients it will be a difficult task for them to understand and carry out programs based on their goals. RT/volunteer problems; Resentment, whether it’s from RT or volunteers, can affect the success of the program. So the Job description of volunteer can act as a solution for any confusion regarding the roles if employees feel that volunteers overstep their authority. The volunteers get into an organization through the screening process. Screening is a key test performed by an association to guarantee that the correct match is made between the work to be done and the individual who will do it. It serves to make and keep up a protected workplace environment. It is a progressing procedure intended to distinguish any individual whether paid or unpaid, volunteer or staff - who may make hurt kids, youth or other helpless people.

• Screening involves 10 steps
• Risk management
• Application form
• Recruitment Process
• Using your organizations chart and position descriptions to identify and manage risk.
• Police records checks
• Follow upInterviews
• Orientation and Training
• Supervision and evaluation

The recreational therapist and volunteers under them work hand in hand to facilitate a program for the clients.

As the recreational therapist prepare a program protocol and plan, the volunteers can assist and help the RT to carry out the programs and also, they can share their ideas and talents to reach out to the clients. Thus, a democratic leadership style can be utilized by the recreational therapist towards volunteers as this shall motivate them. Providing leadership for volunteers can be frustrating, exciting, tedious, rewarding and demanding, all at the same time. Learning how to assess what is and assessing what could be is an important function of leadership for volunteers.

The facilitative leadership skills within the RT and Volunteers help in design meeting processes to accomplish wide range of goals and objectives and it uses active listening skills and help stimulate creative thinking through brainstorming and other idea generation processes. Stimulate strategic consideration of alternatives and informed decision making of appropriate choices. The transformational leadership influence the satisfaction of volunteer through enhanced work meaningfulness and higher‐quality team relationships. One among the 10 steps in screening process of volunteer is “Risk management. ” means asking, "What could go wrong and what do we do to avoid it?" Risk management strategy involves identifying the risk of loss or injury to any client during the program. It is important to think about the vulnerability of the participant to whom the services are delivered. There are chances that participants can be harmed while receiving services from the organization. Once the risk has been identified, reasonable measures must be taken to prevent, minimize or eliminate that risk.

At the same time, manage the risks associated with volunteer assignments—assessing what could go wrong and minimizing or avoiding the potential risk. The “risk proof” volunteer positions that involve vulnerable populations should be considered. A risk management audit should be conducted, in which type of client, setting/environment, type of activity and level of supervision is assessed. Based on the assessment, the volunteer position is designated as low, medium, or high risk. Then it is decided whether you will eliminate, modify, or assume the risk. Volunteer satisfaction is founded upon a link between motivations and actual experience. Cnaan and Goldberg-Glen (1991) state: "People will continue to volunteer as long as the experience as a whole is rewarding and satisfying to their unique needs" Volunteers may be motivated by a variety of factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic; the three categories of motivations or incentives for volunteering are purposive, solidary, and material. Purposive incentives relate to doing something useful and contributing to society. Solidary incentives are based on social interaction, group identification, and networking. Material incentives include tangible rewards such as perks and memorabilia.

The strongest motives were purposive incentives, followed by solidary, then material. Provide regular feedback both formally and informally to the volunteers. The feedback to the volunteers should be given as positive feedback and on how the volunteer can improve. while giving a positive feedback it should be sincere and not generic. When offering a feedback related how the volunteer can improve the delivery is important as they should use any words that put them in defensive state of mind. The tone and manner should always be calm and open. N the whole feedback should be given in a friendly manner. These were the informal method of giving feedback.

A formal feedback is given by oral written evaluation form that includes; description of volunteer’s behavior instead of judging it, appraise them on how they are meeting or exceeding clear, predetermined standards. The performance evaluation can be conducted as it is important in many ways such as helping the volunteers to do the best job he can. They also understand their progress in the work they do and professional development, what they have earned, and what they do particularly well. It also let them know that the organization cares about the job they are doing, and that it’s important. Motivation and positive work atmosphere are two main criteria’s that has to be followed in order to retain the volunteers for a longer duration.

Conclusion

From all the above key points discussed it can be concluded that volunteering can play an important part of therapeutic recreation in terms of the workforce as it can offer. A free service is granted by them in return of expecting a token of appreciation or their heartfelt willingness to do the service of helping the society can also be sometimes challenge for the recreational therapist or Organization as they may work for short term or lacking in liability and accountability. But by providing good positive environment and work atmosphere and using of appropriate leadership skills shared between the volunteers and RTs can motivate them for their involvement in the program which in terms can benefit the organization by retain the volunteers for a longer period of time.

The volunteer motivation can be developed and maintained by providing them with the feedback for the work they do in a friendly manner. A major task of having a volunteer in the therapeutic recreation program takes place after the screening process is carried out which helps to get the right person for the right job after following the risk management strategies. According to me having a volunteer and their role within the therapeutic recreation program is important as they also share the work that is done by the RT and their assistance for the program is an added benefit for the therapist and the clients. thus, they should be given respect and appreciation for their work they do and their willingness to help the society.