Participants in the training program are mature, empathetic men and women who represent the spectrum of communities of Israeli society – including religious, secular, Ashkenazi, Sephardi – and hail from all regions of the country. They require good listening and communication skills, and understand what it means to just “be there” for another person.
Before being accepted into the 25-hour Tomchim training program, applicants are carefully screened and interviewed.
Many participants in the training program have had some experience with bereavement, and understand the complex emotions related to impending death. The training sessions provide a forum for the participants to share their perceptions, feelings and issues about death and dying. This helps prevent volunteers from projecting their own views onto their patients.
The professional staff includes a hospice physician, rabbi, clinical psychologist, and social worker who lead the various sessions. Topics covered in the training sessions include: - The role of the volunteer in the life of the terminally ill - Death, loss and hope: emotional and physical responses of the terminally ill and their family - Between hope and despair: dealing with different ways of coping within the family
- Listening and empathy: meeting with a terminally ill individual - Challenges and issues regarding the medical system
- The Jewish perspective on the importance of life: the process of separation, hope and loss - Spiritual support and practical experience regarding spiritual and emotional issues
- Role playing and training in preparation for the volunteers’ initial meeting with patients
The training emphasizes the importance of support and mutual understanding. In the sessions the participants:
- learn how to work with confidence with the terminally ill and enter the complex family dynamic
- receive current medical and psychological information so that they can meet the needs of the terminally ill
- probe their own motivations and gain self awareness regarding work with the terminally ill.
Each group consists of about 25 participants. The group meets once a week for 3 hours, over a 2-month period. There is no cost to participate in the program.
After the initial training, there are follow-up sessions every 6 weeks. Once a volunteer has been paired with a patient, the program coordinator conducts telephone consultations with the volunteer, the patient and their family.
