Activity group coordinator training

Training 3: planning and preparing – welcoming new people

Planning and preparing – welcoming new people to the activity group

During your time as an activity group coordinator, it’s likely that there will be new volunteers and older people joining the activity group. For example, one of the older people may move out of the area, or one of your volunteers may want to step back from volunteering.

The best way to tell Re-engage about changes to the activity group is to complete the activity group report that we send to the group coordinators four times a year via email. You can also contact the Re-engage team by emailing knowledge@reengage.org.uk or by calling 020 7240 0630 (office hours 9am-5pm Monday to Friday).

Once you tell us that you need more volunteers or older people, we’ll update the map on our website to show that the activity group has vacancies, and we’ll start looking for you.

Planning and preparing – welcoming new older people

When an older person has applied to join the activity group, one of our team will be in contact to ask you if you’ve space in the activity group for them.

If you do have space, we’ll contact the older person to check that the activity group is right for them and to let them know that you’ll be in touch. We’ll then share the older person’s details with you and ask you to contact them and arrange for them to attend the next activity group.

If you’re not able to offer an older person a place in the activity group, please let us know as soon as possible so we can start looking for something else for them to become involved in.

Once you’ve agreed to have a new older person join the activity group the first step is to contact the older person over the telephone. During the call you’ll want to:

• Introduce yourself as their Re-engage activity group coordinator
• Answer any initial questions that they may have about activity group
• Plan for them to come to their first activity group

Planning and preparing – welcoming new volunteers

When someone applies to become an activity group lead volunteer one of the team will first check to see if there’s a driver vacancy near them, then if there is, contact them to talk through the requirements of the role.

Activity group drivers:

• Generally volunteer most months unless they are a reserve driver, who volunteer less frequently
• Collect one or more older people from their home and drive them to and from the activity group

You’ll need to contact the new driver to:

• Introduce yourself as their group coordinator
• Send them the annual activity group schedule for the activity group
• Ask the driver if there are any months when they won’t be available to volunteer
• Let them know the details for their first activity group, including the date, location, and which older people they will be driving.
• Talk them through what to expect at their first activity group

Activity group lead volunteers:

• Generally, volunteer every month.
• Take turns running and supporting a session that gets people moving during the activity group. The activity sessions generally last 30 to 40 minutes.

You’ll need to contact the activity group lead volunteer to:

• Introduce yourself as their group coordinator
• Send them the annual activity group schedule for the activity group
• Ask the activity group volunteers if there are any months when they won't be available to volunteer
• Let them know the details for their first activity group, including the date and location
• Talk them through what to expect at their first activity group

Responding to issues and managing difficult conversations

We hope that your activity group will run as smoothly as possible, However, we do understand that issues can sometimes arise.

For example:

• An older person or volunteer may keep dropping out at the last minute.
• An older person may start to experience a change in their health and struggle to join in with the group.
• Some of the people in the group may not get on well with each other.
• A volunteer may ‘talk over’ or ‘talk down’ to the older people.

Whenever you are faced with an issue and you aren’t sure how to proceed, your first step should be to check our online FAQs which cover a wide range of scenarios and are updated regularly.

If you do need to have a difficult conversation with an older person or with a volunteer in the group, remember to:

• Be clear about why you’re having the conversation and what you want to get out of it before you start the conversation.  
• Try to approach the conversation calmly and with a clear head. 
• Try to recognise and manage your emotions. 
• Keep an open mind and be prepared to challenge your own assumptions and beliefs. 
• Give yourself time to plan what you would like to say.
• Listen to the other person’s side of the story. 
• Try to find the middle ground so that you can reach a solution that works for everyone.

The most important thing to remember is that the team at Re-engage are here to support you and that you can contact the Re-engage team by emailing knowledge@reengage.org.uk or by calling 020 7240 0630 (office hours 9am-5pm Monday to Friday).

Reporting safeguarding issues or concerns

You must maintain an open mind and understand that any adult, in any situation, could be the victim of abuse or neglect. When concerned about the welfare of a person, you must always act in the best interests of the person and act immediately as outlined in the safeguarding adults at risk policy and the safeguarding adults at risk training.

Help and support

If you’ve any questions or queries about activity groups, please take a look at our library of FAQs on the Re-engage website which are regularly reviewed.

You can also contact the Re-engage team by emailing knowledge@reengage.org.uk or by calling 020 7240 0630 (office hours 9am-5pm Monday to Friday).