• Ongoing long-term position
• Any day of the week – flexible times
• Volunteering from your own home, you will need to have access to a phone
• Must be able to commit to making weekly calls to clients on a regular basis

Why Choose to volunteer with Red Cross?

• You can help improve lives and create a positive impact in your community
• It’s an opportunity to enhance your skills & knowledge & gain new experiences
• You’ll be helping Red Cross to support vulnerable people across Australia

The Program

Having good social connections is essential for all aspects of health, especially as we age. Telechat supports older Australian’s who live alone and have minimal social contact with others in their community. Volunteers provide phone-based friendships to improve client’s wellbeing and social connection, supporting them to live independently in their own homes. If a call is not answered, Red Cross will take action to make sure the client is ok.

As a Telechat volunteer, you will be matched with an older person with whom you will have weekly phone calls, at an agreed day and time. Telechat operates in every state and territory in Australia, with volunteers connecting to clients all across the country.

The Opportunity

For this role you will need good conversational skills and the ability to relate to and empathise with a broad range of older people, including those with different lived experiences, abilities, and cultures. All volunteers will need to complete a National Criminal Check. Red Cross will ensure you have training, ongoing support and access to other opportunities within the world’s largest humanitarian network.

The Impact

As a Telechat volunteer, you will brighten the life of an older person experiencing loneliness by offering them friendship and social connectedness. You will have the opportunity to learn from their unique history and knowledge, and they will have the opportunity to learn from yours. As well as feeling the satisfaction of giving back to others, you’ll also be gaining a friend. You’ll be part of the Red Cross Aged & Community Care team that works to support older and vulnerable people across Australia through a range of volunteer-based programs.

Application requirements

For this role you will be required to undertake a National Police Check, organised through Red Cross.

Thank you for considering volunteering at Red Cross. We also have great career opportunities, please visit our website redcross.org.au/careers/

Red Cross strives to create a safe and inclusive culture with wellbeing at its centre. We embrace diversity and welcome Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people with different lived experiences, abilities, gender, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation. We are a child safe organisation with zero tolerance of any harm to children. Our vision is to be trusted as the leading humanitarian organisation making a genuine difference in the lives of people and communities.