The WARM Place Spring Facilitator Training has just come to an end, and we were lucky to welcome 20 new volunteers into our WARM Place family! We are fortunate to have volunteers from all walks of life come together with a common purpose – to help grieving families. Each of our volunteers brings their own unique experience and background to our team. While some are former clients of The WARM Place, returning to give back to the organization that helped them, others have never experienced the death of a loved one. We have volunteers who run organizations and some who are college students, unsure of where their career path will take them. This diversity brought this class of volunteers together to open up and truly grow. The growth that took place during the five training sessions will continue as they begin facilitating groups.
I love that people felt comfortable sharing their experiences and lives with everyone.” – A new WARM Place volunteer
The WARM Place Facilitator Training is crafted to provide every volunteer with the knowledge and power to lead our grief support groups and appropriately respond to children’s grief, even as they are not mental health counselors. Volunteers have the opportunity throughout training to experience firsthand the same activities that the children will engage in for group. They are taught different strategies to encourage discussion and go through a simulation of what an evening of volunteering will be like. We have learned that the most important part of group is helping children support each other during their grief journeys – not trying to solve anyone’s problems, but listening and companioning children in their grief.
The WARM Place offers two facilitator trainings per year, one in the fall and one in the spring. Each training consists of five sessions, totaling 22 hours. Facilitator training is mandatory to volunteer for our grief support program at The WARM Place.
If you are interested in becoming a group facilitator, please apply here for our upcoming training in September. Questions about volunteering? Please contact Molly at 817-870-2272 or molly@thewarmplace.org.
