PRIMARY PURPOSE

The Redkite Family Wellbeing Program at the Children’s Hospital Westmead provides practical and emotional support to families on the ward and in the out-patient clinic.

Our small team of beauty therapists, massage therapists and hairdressers offer much needed respite to parents whose child is receiving cancer treatment at the hospital. Some of these parents may not have returned to their family home for many months and are often unable to leave the hospital even for short periods of time.

The Family Wellbeing volunteers offer parents an opportunity to take a short break from the demands of caring for a sick child within a hospital setting. By volunteering your time and skills to this program, you can allow a parent a moment for some personal care and relaxation during a very difficult time. Family Support volunteers are the warm and caring face of Redkite making a tangible difference to families at the Children’s Hospital Westmead.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Providing parents with high quality beauty or massage therapy services
• Putting parents at ease and helping them feel relaxed
• Maintaining a calm and safe environment
• Providing a reliable service through regular commitment

We ask that you bring your own beauty products to the hospital that you may need for you to provide this service to parents; these will be reimbursed. You will be provided with:

• A suitable space to provide massage therapy services
• Refreshments
• Reimbursement of hospital car parking costs
• Reimbursement for any beauty product expenses used while volunteering at the hospital
• Ongoing support from Redkite and the Family Wellbeing Coordinator

EXPERIENCE

To be considered for this volunteer role you must:

• Be a professionally qualified massage therapist
• Demonstrate relevant experience working in a massage therapy role

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

To be considered for this volunteer role you must:

• Be 18 or over
• Be punctual and reliable
• Work well as part of a team
• Have effective listening and verbal communication skills
• Be calm and empathetic, even in circumstances where others are upset or distressed
• Have strong professional standards and a clear understanding of why professional boundaries are important in a role such as this
• Ensuring confidentiality of clients’ personal information
• A willingness to act in accordance with both Redkite and The Children’s Hospital Westmead’s organisational volunteer policies, procedures, code of conduct and relevant legislative requirements (these will be provided)
• Have a commitment to acquiring necessary knowledge, skills, and competencies to best support families (appropriate training will be provided by the Family Wellbeing Coordinator)

NEXT STEPS

1. Apply for the role by emailing our Volunteer Coordinator at
2. Meet our Family Wellbeing Coordinator at Westmead Children’s Hospital for an introduction to the role and the oncology department
3. If you are successful, you will fill out our Redkite and Westmead Children’s Hospital volunteer enrolment forms (volunteer code of conduct, working with children’ check, police check, health check and vaccinations check etc.)
4. Complete face-to-face and online inductions
5. Start your volunteering!