Shape our volunteer support

Helping people with MND is at the heart of what we do. That's why we've taken a closer look at how we could provide even bigger, better volunteer support for those affected.

Last year we asked for your views on what we could do differently. Now we're sharing our draft proposals and welcome your feedback.

Month by month, we'll be looking at how we could further develop our highly valued Association Visitor service. But we'll also look at other possibilities for volunteer action, often based on existing best practice from across the country.

Welcome to our Options for Support

What's happening already?

To kick things off, we'd like to share with you some ideas we're already testing.

  1. We know that local promotion and word-of-mouth is the most powerful recruitment method we have, so we've provided a toolkit to help local volunteers recruit Association Visitors and other support volunteers.
  2. We're carrying out a wider trial of Carers Champions – an existing volunteer role dedicated to support for carers and former carers. This also builds on last year’s review of support for the recently bereaved.
  3. We're looking at whether greater use of entry-level roles such as MND Support Volunteers could grow our support and help volunteers get started.
  4. We continue to pilot the use of voice banking volunteers to support people with MND through this process.

We will evaluate the impact of these trials before deciding on our final proposals.

Please note there is also a separate project looking at the role of staff in providing support for people affected by MND.

Help us find the answers

If you would like to talk to someone about our Options for Support or your ideas for change, please contact us on [email protected]

We certainly also have questions we hope you can help us answer. For example, should we consider completely new areas of volunteer activity, such as practical assistance with gardening, shopping and other tasks?

We also believe that everyone involved in support for people affected by MND forms a community that could and should share knowledge and best practice. Help us build that community by joining our online conversation about Options For Support.