Volunteer Roles

Location:

Community Support, Positive Living Centre

Duties:

Volunteers working in small teams around Melbourne provide social and practical support to clients living with HIV.

Directions:

Most volunteer support activities occur during the day, Monday to Friday, but there is the option to volunteer on weekends.

Skills: Good listening skills and an ability to establish rapport with a wide variety of people.

Requirements: Attendance at an evening team meeting once a month. Own transport is an advantage but not essential.

Location:

615 St Kilda Road
Counselling

Duties:

Provide counselling services for clients on a range of issues including issues with HIV, sexuality and coming out, grief and loss and safe sex.

We seek professionals who are committed and sensitive to join our team:

• For a minimum twelve month period
• For three to four client contact hours per week

As a volunteer member of the Positive Health team you will be required to attend:

• Two to three professional development days throughout the year
• Regular individual supervision
• Regular group supervision

Qualifications:

You are eligible if you:

• Have a professional qualification with a minimum of two years counselling experience
• Are registered with your professional association
• Are willing to sign a volunteer counselling confidentiality agreement

Directions:

We have a yearly intake of volunteer Positive Health team members in October each year. If you are interested and have the commitment and professional experience please contact:

Volunteer Coordinator
Phone: (03) 9865 6700 (or free-call 1800 134 840 for country callers)
Email: volunteers@vac.org.au

You will need to provide your resume, including two professional referees and a written expression of interest stating why you want to work within our agency and how you believe you can contribute. Interested candidates will be interviewed and, if successful, will participate in an induction process, which involves two days of training.

Skills: Counselling
Certification: Counselling

Location:

615 St Kilda Road
Front of House / Admin

Duties:

This role involves customer service including answering the telephone, dealing with enquiries from a range of people and providing administrative support.

Skills: Administration, Communication

Location:

Positive Living Centre
PLC Services

Duties:

Facilitate groups and provide support for people living with HIV/AIDS

Qualifications: You must be HIV positive for this program

Skills: Communication, Counselling

Location:

Positive Living Centre
PLC Services

Duties:

Help with food preparation, washing dishes, and general kitchen duties for lunches on Tuesdays and dinners on Thursdays

Skills: Chef / Kitchen Hand
Certification: Food Handling

Purpose: The HIV AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) is a community legal centre specialising in issues related to HIV/AIDS and a program of Thorne Harbour Health. Volunteering with us will gain you exposure to interesting people and a wide scope of legal work. This is a legal administration assistant position where you will be the first point of call for clients, directing their enquiries as required.

Supervision: The Legal Administration Assistant Volunteer is supervised and reports to the manager of the Positive Living Centre (PLC).

Duties and responsibilities:

This is a legal administration assistant position where you will be the first point of call for clients, directing their enquiries as required. Tasks include:

• Managing client files
• Answering calls and emails
• Managing the client database
• Providing referrals
• Helping with other tasks as allocated by supervisor/s from time to time

Qualifications:

Must be undertaking or have completed Bachelor Laws/ Juris Doctor.

Volunteer shifts:

We are seeking volunteers to work one night per week on Thursday evenings between 6.30 - 9.00pm at the Positive Living Centre, South Yarra. We are ultimately looking for a weekly commitment, for a minimum of twelve months.

Volunteer role location:

The volunteer will work at the Positive Living Centre, at 51 Commercial Rd South Yarra (old Braille Library). The volunteer is responsible for arranging transport to and from this address.

Mandatory Checks:

The position is subject to satisfactory completion of a Police check and a Working with Children Check. Successful applicants will be required to complete the volunteer induction before commencing in their role.

Key Selection Criteria:

The following are central to the legal administration assistant position and are our primary basis for selection.

1. A strong commitment to social justice and a sensitivity to and/or experience in working with clients and people from a diverse range of backgrounds.
2. Proficient in using the Microsoft suite of products.
3. Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.
4. Experience working autonomously and as a contributing and productive team member, with a goal oriented approach.
5. Ability to identify and handle completing priorities in a timely manner.
6. Must be undertaking or have completed Bachelor Laws/ Juris Doctor.
7. Available on a weekly basis for a minimum for twelve months.

Location:

Community Support, Positive Living Centre

Duties:

Volunteer drivers take HIV-positive clients to medical appointments, usually at major hospitals and HIV clinics. Transport expenses are reimbursed.

Directions:

This role suits volunteers with some spare time during the day, Monday to Friday. There is no minimum commitment, as staff contact volunteers to book each transport.

Skills: Driving, good communication skills and a sense of humour.

Requirements: Current driver’s licence and a reliable vehicle.

Location:

615 St Kilda Road
Front of House / Admin

Skills: Administration

Location:

Positive Living Centre
PLC Services

Duties:

Pick up supplies and stock shelves as part of this weekly service which provides clients with items to supplement their grocery shopping.

Skills: Chef / Kitchen Hand

Location:

615 St Kilda Road
Health Promotion

Duties:

This role involves being the facilitator of a number of workshops over a six-week period. These workshops are for men who are attracted to other men. The workshops aim to provide a safe space where men can learn about themselves, improve their life skills, enhance their relationships and improve their social networks.

Topics covered include:

Coming out, identity, sexual health, community and many more.
Normally groups have are 8-12 participants followed with two trained volunteer peer facilitators.

Directions:

Workshops run once a week for six weeks on either a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night for three hours from 7.00pm - 10.00pm with a break for dinner.

Location:

Community Support, Positive Living Centre

Duties:

Volunteers from the LGBTI community provide individual social support for isolated elderly members of the LGBTI community, living in their own homes or in aged-care facilities. Support includes home visits and outings for a movie or coffee and a chat.

Directions:

Rainbow Connection volunteers usually visit clients fortnightly, and visits can be on weekdays or weekends.

Skills: Good listening skills and an ability to establish rapport with a wide variety of people.

Requirements: Volunteers must identify as members of the LGBTI community. Own transport is an advantage but not essential.

Location:

Positive Living Centre
PLC Services

Duties:

Provide front-of-house customer service including answering the telephone, dealing with enquiries from a range of people and providing administrative support.

Skills: Administration, Communication

Location:

615 St Kilda Road
Health Promotion

Duties:

Outreach SOPV & Online Volunteers are members of the Health Promotion Program. Their role is to participate in outreach activities that may support patrons in Sex On Premises Venues (SOPV) or in Online communities who are affected or infected with HIV/AIDS or other Sexually Transmissible Infections (STIs) who are actively seeking sex with other men in these spaces.

Health Promotion Program volunteers are accountable in the first instance to their Outreach Project Health Educator, but they are ultimately accountable to the Manager of the Health Promotion Program.

General responsibilities:

• To be reliable, responsible, communicative and committed to working cooperatively within the Health Promotion Program (HPP) and Thorne Harbour Health
• To work cooperatively with other project volunteers and where needed with other HPP volunteers to ensure the integrity and quality of work within the Project is achieved
• To attend Bi-Monthly Catch-up meetings or to communicate with the project worker if you will be absent
• To actively contribute to the work of the project
• To actively and cooperatively undertake training provided by the HPP for Outreach Volunteer workers where it has been identified as needed for the duty to be performed
• To maintain a non-judgmental approach to the diverse lifestyles and life choices of other volunteers and clients of the HPP
• To respect and maintain confidentiality of client/s, friends, family and other volunteers
• To participate in review sessions at the conclusion of set periods of times within the course of the project
• To accept assistance, feedback and supervision from Outreach Project worker and program support staff as necessary
• To feedback through appropriate channels any information that may be useful or necessary for the welfare of client/s and the Program
• To complete necessary volunteer records e.g. statistical records in venues and/or online, claim forms, etc as required
• To be available a minimum of three (3) hours if working primarily in SOPV and/or two (2) hours if working primarily in online environments per month
• To not engage in any sexual activity with any HPP client whilst performing volunteer duties
• To identify any conflict of interest you may have in respect to any aspect of your volunteering role and to declare any such conflicts to the project worker or the manager of the HPP
• To not use yourself or to not provide a client with or secure for a client any illegal or illicit drugs
• To not accept/loan/give money to/or from a client
• To work within the policies and procedural guidelines as established by the HPP
• Please note: Failure to do so may result in termination of volunteer status within the HPP and possibly Thorne Harbour Health

Time commitment:

• To be available a minimum of three (3) hours if working primarily in SOPV and/or two (2) hours if working primarily in online environments per month
• To attend the regular Bi-Monthly Catch-ups if you are able

Qualifications/Skills/Abilities/Qualities/Experiences:

• To have available time to undertake HPP Outreach SOPV & Online activities. This will include a diverse range of hours and times for volunteer work
• To have the ability to communicate, care for and share with others in a supportive, non-judgmental and flexible manner
• The ability to work in socially confronting environments
• The ability to identify why you want to devote time to volunteering work and to determine what you can contribute and what you gain from such involvement
• A sense of humour, patience, empathy and understanding of the situations of clients
• Have a good understanding of male-to-male sex cultures
• A willingness to contribute and learn new skills and take up training opportunities offered
• Ability to respect the confidentiality of clients and other volunteers
• Good listening and communication skills
• Commitment to supporting the rights and independence of clients
• The ability to be self motivated yet to work effectively in a team situation with other volunteers

Directions:

Additional training sessions are required to carry out this work. These sessions are generally run over a weekend. Please note: it is a requirement that potential volunteers are able to attend both sessions.

All potential and current volunteers for this organisation must be prepared to undertake a police check as a condition of working for this agency.