Volunteer Caregiving in Palliative, Hospice, and Chronic Care Settings

Update on our volunteer program

We wanted to offer a brief update on our volunteer program. Due to recent events related to the novel coronavirus, our Spring 2020 New Volunteer Training has been postponed. Please refer to this page for further updates as they develop. Thank you.

Since the founding of Zen Hospice Project in 1988, the Volunteer Caregiving Program has been at the heart of our model of care. It serves as the foundation of everything we do and teach today as Zen Caregiving Project.

Our program emphasizes a mindful, human-centered approach in which the spiritual and emotional needs of those we care for are primary.

All our volunteers are carefully screened, interviewed, and trained. The initial volunteer training, which includes over 40 hours of in-person learning, is highly experiential and explores the emotional and practical issues of serving in a healthcare environment.

Weekly service includes on-going supervision, support from a community of like-minded individuals, and on-going training sessions.

We train volunteers to serve with a range of skills grounded in practices of mindfulness and compassion.

For over thirty years, Zen Hospice Project volunteer caregivers have had a presence at Laguna Honda Hospital. Our volunteers carry on that legacy of service as Zen Caregiving Project by continuing to serve on the Palliative Care Ward, providing emotional support for persons living with chronic and terminal illnesses, their friends and family, and clinical staff.

Our Volunteer Caregiving Program has emerged as one of the longest continuously running volunteer hospice and palliative care programs in the country.

While volunteers are required to commit to one year of service, our average volunteer term is five years with many volunteers serving for a decade or more.

Interested in partnering with us?

We are happy to work with your organization and deliver a full or tailored training to your existing volunteers. Alternatively, we can help you build a volunteer community by recruiting, training, and managing volunteers to serve within your organization.