Together for NGOs · Staff and volunteers
Sustainable support, shared responsibility
Six modules for people supporting others: role boundaries, demands, supervision, handovers and team changes that make the work more sustainable.
Adult staff, volunteers and their coordinators
Six 25–35 minute modules · Optional 45 minute team sessions
Public review sample · Edition 0.3-review · Licensing in development. Professional, cultural, accessibility and pilot review remain open.
A clear learning pathway
- 01
Make your role and limits clear
Describe what is within your role, what needs consultation and what requires referral or escalation.
- 02
Map demands and change the work
Identify one recurring work demand and propose a change to the conditions producing it.
- 03
Listen without taking everything on
Practise listening, clarifying the immediate need and agreeing a bounded next step.
- 04
Use supervision and peer support well
Prepare a bounded support conversation and distinguish supervision from informal peer contact.
- 05
Make handovers and endings clearer
Prepare a concise handover with responsibility, consent considerations and a clear next contact.
- 06
Agree a team experiment and review it
Create and review one practical team improvement with an accountable owner.
What participants can make
- A clearer role and escalation map
- A practical workload or support improvement
- A team action with an owner and review date
Coordinators provide time, participation choices and a route outside the immediate manager for concerns. Volunteers receive the same freedom to decline personal disclosure.
SEE THE APPROACH BEFORE YOU ENQUIRE
Sample: Make your role and limits clear
These selected excerpts show the learning, a scenario, a worksheet and facilitator preparation. They are offered for personal evaluation, rather than running a group from an unreviewed draft.
A short learning excerpt
A clear role protects the person receiving support and the person providing it. Being caring does not mean being available at every hour or being able to solve every problem. Ambiguity becomes risky when a worker must guess what they are authorised, trained or resourced to do.
A useful boundary includes a next route: what you can do, what you cannot do, and who can help with the next decision. Coordinators must make that route real, including cover when the usual contact is unavailable. Volunteers should not have to invent an emergency response or use personal contact details to fill a service gap.
Fictional example: Sam volunteers at a community food service. A participant asks Sam to manage a complex benefits dispute. Sam can help find the service's approved advice contact but cannot promise an outcome or provide specialist advice. The coordinator checks that the referral is current and explains what to do if the participant has an urgent practical need today.
A fictional situation
The absent coordinator
An evening volunteer is asked to accompany someone to a benefits hearing tomorrow. This is outside the role; the coordinator is absent and the listed backup does not answer.
Try a response and explore the feedback. This is practice, not a test of you.
Try the private worksheet
Use a fictional example or leave this blank. Answers stay in this open page and clear when you leave. Saving downloads a text file; nothing is uploaded.
The sample does not award a certificate, record completion or grant group delivery rights.
See how a facilitator would prepare
Coordinator action: verify the role map, escalation contacts and out-of-hours boundaries. Resolve unclear authority in writing. Avoid asking participants to negotiate away responsibilities that belong to the organisation.
Session opening excerpt
5 minutes · Choice and scope
Offer observing or written participation. Identify which service procedures govern this discussion.
Access and stopping
Use three labelled cards and talk through the example. Supply the role description in accessible language; do not assume volunteers have received it.
If the example reveals immediate risk or an active safeguarding concern, stop the exercise and use the service's response process.
The complete facilitator guide includes the remaining timed activities, discussion prompts, common misunderstandings and follow-up.
What the proposed licence includes
Six learning modules, twelve decision scenarios, participant workbook, timed facilitator plans, slides, orientation, rollout templates and optional follow-up tools. See the delivery toolkit and buyer information.
A$799Indicative / 12 months · AUD
One organisation, one series, up to 100 distinct adult staff or volunteers over 12 months. Up to three named facilitators.
Start smaller: an indicative A$299, 12-week pilot for one series, up to 20 adults and two facilitators. Its fee is credited against an agreed annual upgrade. All options remain subject to readiness, written agreement and a release decision.
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