Volunteer Supervision

Taking some time during every in-service training is a perfect time to get some practice.

If your volunteers know that they will be utilizing these skills during every in-service, they might work harder to utilize the skills in their lives on a daily basis. How else can the RIGHT skills become ingrained and a natural part of serving and caring for others?

I think the most-often used RIGHT skills are reflective listening, Interpretive listening, and good questions.

Here is a suggestion that will reinforce the skills during each in-service without taking up too much time. This exercise will be a quick call and response for each of the 3 skills.

1. Make a sheet/list of statements for each of the RIG communication skills so you easily have them at hand. Sources for statements might be:

• Exercises from the manual
• Statements clients have said to you
• Case Studies from the manual
• Ask your materials assistance staff or volunteers to give you a list of statements they hear most from the clients they serve.
• Statements do not necessarily have to relate to pregnancy issues in order to practice the skills but they might be the most helpful to volunteers.

2. The number of the statements you have should match the number of volunteers attending so there is no duplicates for each of the skills

3. Start with reflective listening. Briefly review the How To’s of the skill.

4. The trainer reads the skill, then speaks the sentence out-loud while choosing a volunteer and makes direct eye contact with them. It is that volunteer who must respond using the listening skill correctly. This is better than going systematically down the rows because then volunteers know they only have to listen when it is going to be there turn. When you jump around the room and make eye contact, no one knows when it will be their turn and must always be ready, especially if you tell them they might be called upon more than once. In order to save time you really try not to call on people twice but it keeps them alert and thinking of how to respond if they would be called on again.

5. Repeat this for each of the RIG listening skills. Each volunteer should respond once to each of the RIG skills.

If you have the statements prepared ahead of time and review the skills quickly you should be able to get through RIG in a short amount of time. Be sure and gently correct anyone who does not answer using the skill correctly before moving on to the next person. Often people will ask a question when they should be using reflective or interpretive listening. I usually respond by saying, “That’s a great question and we will get to those real soon but right now we are focusing on _________so give it another try.” It is a gentle way to refocus them to the skill you are practicing.

There is so much to remember and practice as a volunteer with the Pregnancy Center ministry.

Your love and service to them should be helping them to remember and practice the most-important skills so they will better serve the clients God sends to them.

How often do you read through your client intake forms?

There is usually two different parts to a client intake form. One being the statistical information and the other being the narrative description of the volunteer’s interaction with the client. Both are important.

In-services are a great way to explain the importance of accurately filling out the client intake form and the post-session narrative documentation of their client interactions.

We know the statistical information on the client intake form is needed for a variety of reasons.

When training volunteers to gather this information effectively you might consider sharing with volunteers:

1. Why this information is important and how you use this information
2. Show them how having this information is important as they begin to build relationship with their client
3. What information is most important during your time with a client
4. How to gather this information as a way to begin building relationship rather than just interviewing someone.
5. Who is gathering this information and how they are doing this?
6. How do you ask clients to complete the form? What do you tell them about the form? What happens if they leave some information blank?
7. If clients fill out the intake form themselves, how can volunteers use the information gathered to begin making contact and reducing anxiety

The narrative post-session documentation in a client’s chart is important for many reasons.

1. Reading the documentation provides a way to supervise and evaluate volunteers on their client interactions without having to actually observe them in person.
2. How a volunteer documents their interactions demonstrates their knowledge and use of the Seven Fundamentals taught in the training.
3. Documentation provides you with client information that can help you create case studies for in-service trainings.
4. The information is important when a client returns for follow-up visits or if they are seen by a different volunteer when they return.
5. Documentation provides consistency of service and clients will feel seen and remembered by your ministry.
6. Certain ethical and legal protections must be taken into consideration in case a client asks to read their file or some legal action is taken.

When training volunteers in their post-session narrative documentation you might consider:

1. Conducting a short role-play and asking volunteers how they would document the session.
2. Create a quiz or worksheet with examples of good and bad documentation for volunteers to work through and then go over their responses.
3. Discuss the similarities and differences of the narrative post-session documentation needed in various parts of the ministry such as pregnancy testing and advocacy, material assistance, reproductive loss groups, educational programs, medical services (ultrasound), etc.
4. Asking specific questions on the documentation form that relate to the training such as:

• What was her SOS?
• Where might she have been on the crisis cycle? Explain
• What were her needs / issues?
• What resources were discussed?
• What action plans were discussed?
• What is the follow up plan?
• Spiritual Condition – Cultivating – Sowing – Harvesting – Discipling ? Explain.

So much energy is put into client documentation. I hope this helps you get an idea of how all that information and paperwork can help you supervise better and enable volunteers to connect better with their clients, from their first hello.