Apply to be an ISCC Volunteer
We invite you to join the Interfaith Spiritual Care Coalition. No prior experience is necessary, and we invite any and all to apply. Please see below for volunteer policies and expectations.
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Volunteer Policies and Expectations
Our Mission: To empower spiritual care volunteers to serve in the healthcare community through recruitment, certified training, and partnership with healthcare agencies.
ISCC is an outreach ministry sponsored by the Institute of Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center. Its primary focus is to address the lack of organized spiritual care resources in underserved healthcare facilities in the Houston region. Faith-based volunteers will be recruited, interviewed, and trained in order to be given the opportunity to establish spiritual care relationships with one or more facilities.
Volunteers will possess a sense of spiritual calling to meet and be available to clients and caregivers, respecting the roles of staff. Generally it is expected that each volunteer will devote a few hours on the same day each week to their designated facility.
The theme of volunteer outreach is “The Power of Presence,” utilizing the gift of genuine connections and relationships built on trust levels. Spiritual care volunteers are:
- Able to listen to narratives the help make meaning of life experiences
- Offer friendly conversation with lonely, often overlooked people
- Flexible enough to enter uncomfortable scenarios and offer a quiet presence
- Provide a sense of respect and dignity to anyone encountered
- Self-aware of one’s own limitations and boundaries that trust the process of the spiritual relationship rather than trying to “fix” others
- Open and creative in meeting spoken needs of the clients and facilities, helping find or establish needed resources (such as support groups, devotional studies, etc)
- Willing to connect relationtionally with those who have a different understanding of spirituality than the volunteer has
- Committed to a sense of confidentiality with others’ shared stories, unless personal harm is viewed as possible
- Amenable to use the ISCC staff and resources for reporting and emotional support
This new ministry program is a much-needed venture into a segment of our fellow citizens that are often lonely, neglected, or forgotten. The reasons for clients being in a facility are multiple, including physical and/or mental limitations and incapacities, lack of financial resources to live and care for oneself at home, debilitating mental conditions such as dementia, Alzheimers’, mental illness, brain damage, and the ongoing constrictions of aging.
Yet, ISCC believes in the core value and worth of each individual, and offers a spiritual connection and purpose to those who will receive it.
The training (initial and ongoing) will equip volunteers to be genuine listeners, appropriately assertively offering themselves as spiritual sojourners. Agendas of extreme coercion to “convert” clients to a particular understanding of beliefs is not appropriate or tolerated. Genuine traveling spiritually alongside each person regardless of their unique belief system is a rare privilege each volunteer can offer and engage.
The initial volunteer training sessions will be for 3 hours for 3 nights (including an evening meal). Continuing follow-up sessions will be conducted after 3-4 months of the volunteers’ assignments. ISCC will always be ready to hear particular concerns and celebratory stories from the volunteers’ relationships with clients and staff.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration in becoming an ISCC volunteer.
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ISCC Volunteer Application
We welcome you to complete the following application towards volunteering within underserved healthcare facilities. Upon submission of this application, we will call you with an interview to get to know your interests and skills better.
Name and Email *
Phone *
Which days can you volunteer to provide spiritual care support? *
Address *
Are you licensed to provide mental or physical health services, ordained clergy, trained lay volunteer, or an active volunteer in any other capacity?
What is the earliest day you would like to begin volunteering? *
The health and wellness of our clients is of utmost importance to the ISCC. In order to ensure the health and wellness of our clients, we employ strict COVID-19 precautions to safeguard the elderly and high-risk populations. We require all volunteers to:
1) Have an up-to date vaccine and/or booster
2) Always wear a mask, preferably KN95 or N95 to minimize possible exposure
3) Abide by all facility rules and regulations while serving their populations
4) Report any positive COVID-19 tests and/or any COVID-19 exposures
5) Social distance to the best of your ability and employ sanitization practices (washing hands, sanitizing hands, etc.)
Do you agree to follow the outlined COVID-19 precautions as listed above? *
Will you commit to three initial training sessions, then follow up sessions in a few months? (the initial training sessions are in person at ISH on Thursdays, June 9, 16, and 23, 2022, from 6:00-9:00 pm) *
Are you willing to provide ISCC a weekly report on your relational connections as a volunteer? *
Please provide the name, phone number, and email of one person as a reference. *
Please note any dietary restrictions or preferences (for food provided during training sessions)?
Are you willing to have a background check? *
Share a brief description of what attracts you to this spiritual care volunteer role, and what you bring to offer our clients, plus any limitations you feel on commitment to this outreach role: *
