Your company can volunteer alongside our specialist staff to deliver an unforgettable experience to our families.

Our STaR (Social, Therapeutic and Resource) Team take care of the social and emotional needs of our children, young adults and their siblings and other family members. These needs are met through multiple creative therapies, support groups, psychotherapies and transition services – all of which your team will hear more about when they visit Richard House.

One key aspect of the STaR Team’s work is to create opportunities for families to come together and enjoy new experiences, without having to worry about the care needs of their child as this is covered by our specialist nursing team on site.

We hold regular activity days and events across each of the school holidays which are very popular among our families, alongside other regular groups to support the ongoing needs of individual events. For all of these events, our STaR team always need enthusiastic corporate volunteers who are happy to get stuck in and who would like more direct interaction with our service users.

We welcome suggestions for how your staff’s volunteering could further add to the fun of the day, particularly if you have skills such as face painting, crafting, magic or anything else which could bring further joy to the event for our families.

Your team could help at any of the following: 

Family Activity Days and Seasonal Festivities

Every school holiday, our STaR team run at least one Activity Day, Film Afternoon or Family Party for the families at Richard House. Alongside this we also run additional events across the year to tie in with seasonal festivities, such as Christmas Parties, Easter Egg Hunts and Eid Celebrations.

Your team can help our team to set up and decorate for the event, run craft and activity stations during the party, welcome families and serve refreshments/lunch, chat with our parents and get dressed up for some photo opportunities with the children. We have had corporate partners dress up as everything from the Easter Bunny to Toy Story Characters - the more you are willing to get stuck in, the more magical it will be for the children! Has someone in your team got an artistic flair, or excellent dance skills? Suggest to us an activity station or run a short entertainment segment as part of your Employee Engagement Day with us, we'd love to hear your ideas!

 

Mum's Groups

One of the things our Mum's feel most is a sense of isolation, as they are often the caregiver who has given up work to focus on 24hr primary care-giving to their child. The concept of "Me Time" has disappeared from their lifestyles and they miss learning new skills and meeting new people. Richard House aims to bring some quality time back for our Mum's to be themselves and socialise, through our twice monthly afternoon Mum's Groups.

Has your team got a talent or skill that our Mum's would love to learn, and would you be able to come and host one of our sessions with them? From yoga and candle making to staying safe online, run a session that helps our Mum's find time just for themselves. 

Parent Skills Seminars or supporting our Young Adults with Life-Skills Workshops

There are many areas of life for our parents and caregivers that require financial or legal expertise to navigate, or that they may feel ill-equipped to deal with effectively. Our parents know that getting their child the same access to opportunities and experiences as their peers will always be a fight, and Richard House is firmly in their corner offering practical support as much as possible. 

Today, Richard House also supports a growing number of young adults, who due to medical advances are now living into adulthood and having to navigate new scenarios and the next stage of their personal development. Most of these young adults will have found that on approaching adulthood, many of their previous support networks have fallen away, leaving them uncertain where to turn for practical help and skills development. Richard House is committed to remaining a constant for these young people as they go through this challenging time. 

What knowledge and skills could you share as a team, running an "expert" session for either our parents, primary caregivers or young adults? Cyber-security, financial planning, writing a persuasive letter of argument, understanding their rights - these and many more topics are all areas where we would welcome the collaboration of our corporate partners, to deliver the insight and tools that our families and young adults can use to best equip themselves in the future. 

Booking an Employee Engagement Day with our Families

Volunteering with our families is subject to requirement and offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. We will be keen to find opportunities for partners who have unusual suggestions for activities you can support on, or run! If you want to know more about the specific requests our families and parents have, drop us an email and we can arrange a time to chat. 

Subject to the event, we may ask for a donation for your team to volunteer with our families on your Employee Engagement Day. Typically, our partners support us by funding an aspect of the event, and covering materials for any activities you are running or costumes/decorations to make the event more special.  

Richard House is very open about the challenges we face in order to continue our vital work. We are a small charity yet we care for over 300 families. We also know there are thousands more that need our help within our boroughs. Our government funding is limited; for every £4 we need to continue to run our services, therapies and activities, £3 of this has to come from voluntary funding.

This is why we ask for a donation to volunteer with our families, or for you to part-fund the event with us. Your contribution will mean we can continue to run all of our services and in turn continue offering opportunities for employee engagement to companies. 

For some further details and what your team can expect, download our Employee Engagement Days pack below. Also be sure to check out our FAQ's page for more support. 

Employee Engagement Days with Richard House

Want to get started on booking an Employee Engagement Day for your team?

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Corporate Spotlight: Corporate Banking Team from Barclays, and our Mum's Group

"I approached Richard House to do some volunteering with my colleagues after reading about all the amazing differences they make to children and families’ lives. It was something we really wanted to be a part of an contribute towards in some way.

The Mum’s Group activity day is always fun-filled and the Valentine’s flower arranging this year went down a treat with all the Mum’s. For us as volunteers it was so rewarding to see how much they got out of the day and enjoyed themselves, they were all so lovely.

The lovely staff at Richard House always take us on a tour to end the day and each time we’ve been they have done more and more amazing work around the hospice for the children – it’s heart-warming to see. We were so surprised that end of life care is such as small part of what Richard House does and I think it is such a positive and inspiring place, it's run brilliantly."

The Barclays Corporate Banking Team have run both flower arranging and candle making workshops with our Mum's Group, and we hope to welcome them back in 2020 to do some festive wreath making!