Your Community Needs Your Support...
Become a Nav-CARE Volunteer
"Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity, being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone's mind and heart. For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grown we need a visceral feeling of safety."
"No doctor can write a prescription for friendship and love."
~Prof Bessel van der Kolk
Nav-CARE Volunteer =
Quality of Life Navigation
A volunteer navigator is someone who assists
individuals who are experiencing isolation. Their
goal is to help these individuals establish connections, become independent, and improve their quality of life. To achieve this, they build a relationship with the person they are helping and learn about their needs and
desires. Then, they use this information to connect them with appropriate resources, services, and people in their community. The volunteer navigator approach is family-centric and aims to find the best fit for each individual. Nav-CARE is a person-centered approach that works
with each person and their family to identify and meet their unique needs.
"Something as simple as having a cup of tea
withsomeone can change their life."
What Nav-CARE volunteers do...
Volunteer Navigators:
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Improve the quality of life for people in their community.
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Provide support, encouragement and compassionate listening.
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Help people to stay engaged in what is meaningful to them.
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Connect people to resources to help them and facilitate community connections.
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Help people to stay independent for as long as possible.
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Enjoy special friendships with persons that make both of their lives more meaningful.​
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Advocate for clients and families when needed.
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Serve as a “stepping-stone” to exploring important, but sometimes difficult, topics like advance care planning.
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Provide a safety net for those living at home alone and without family nearby.
FAQ's
1
Who can be a Volunteer Navigator and is there training?
Volunteer navigators are compassionate individuals who are able to support those who are experiencing isolation. They may choose this role because they want to help people and make their community a better place to live.
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“Being” versus “Doing”
Above all, volunteer navigators listen
to, support, and encourage individuals and their families. Sometimes, just being there is a big thing. Volunteer navigators check in on people in their community. “Being” with the client has many positive benefits such as promoting client engagement and reducing feelings of isolation.
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Training
Nav-CARE offers convenient online training that you can complete from home. The training is divided into multiple modules, each covering essential skills for volunteer navigators. Each module includes competencies, learning objectives, content, and reflective exercises to support your continuous development. After completing the online training, you'll attend an in-person workshop. The total training time is approximately 4 hours.
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SUPPORT
Nav-CARE provides "around-the-clock support" to ALL of our wonderful volunteers navigators!
2
How much time is required to be a Volunteer Navigator?
Each volunteer has only two clients.
The luxury of time that comes with home visits every 2-3 weeks for about 1.5 hours facilitate the volunteer navigator’s ability to be a listening and supportive presence.
Some of the things a volunteer navigator will do:
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• Work with individuals and families to describe what is most important to them (priorities for quality of life)
• Help individuals and families find services or resources that make their lives easier
• Provide encouragement and companionship
• Help with overcoming barriers to getting services or resources
• Support and encourage individuals and families as they look for their own resources
3
What is the role of a Volunteer Navigator?
The navigator role is not a new one. Healthcare navigators have been used for many years to help patients navigate the complexities of the healthcare system.
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Nav-CARE Volunteer are NOT healthcare navigators.
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A Nav-CARE volunteer works with the client and family to identify their priorities for quality of life. For example, helping clients to connect with friends, leisure activities or social services, or simply being a listening, supportive presence can have beneficial health effects. The emphasis is on helping to determine what is most important for the client and family within their community relationships, and facilitating access to what is most important. Furthermore, volunteer
navigators begin their work with clients upstream, often before they need home-based healthcare services. This proactive approach enables supportive care to be provided early on in the
declining health trajectory, which enables clients to remain independent for as long as possible.
Nav-CARE clients tell us our volunteers make their lives “more livable.”
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4
What Skills and Knowledge Do Navigators Need?
Learning the role of a volunteer navigator involves learning to see things in new ways and making new connections.
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Skills volunteer navigators need:
• To be excellent listeners
• To be excellent communicators
• To understand families and how they work
• To be able to treat each person as an individual
• To be able to solve problems
• To be flexible and adaptable
• To be able to speak up for others
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Volunteer navigators need to know:
• Their community
• How to access resources
• How to anticipate the needs of clients and families dealing with serious illness
• When they don’t know something or when they don’t have the information
• When to contact their community agency for support
• How to be supportive with their client when problems can’t be solved
•Their boundaries
Change Someone's Life...
Become a Nav-CARE Volunteer TODAY
For information, contact
Kathleen Monahan | Nav-CARE Program Coordinator
NavCAREQuadraCircle@gmail.com
Cell: 778-874-8187