Background Our St Columba’s Hospice Care Compassionate Neighbours volunteers (CNs) support people with a life-limiting condition who are lonely and socially isolated, bringing companionship, joy, and friendship. This relationship often continues to the end of their life (Kellehear. QJM. 2013; 106(12):1071–1075). Our Wellbeing Service enables people to improve their overall sense of wellbeing, empowers them to self-manage the physical and emotional impact of their condition, achieve valued goals, and adapt to their deteriorating health (Tiberini, Richardson. Rehabilitative palliative care enabling people to live fully until they die: a challenge for the 21st century. Hospice UK; 2015; Schulman-Green, Brody, Gilbertson-White, et al. Curr Opin Support Palliat Care. 2018;12(3):299–307). The Compassionate Neighbours Lead identified a gap in the knowledge and skills of their volunteers, and with resilience fatigue (Vanderstichelen. Palliat Med. 2022;36(4):564–566).

Aims To enhance the knowledge, skills and resilience of the CNs to enrich their relationship with the person they are paired with. To develop and trial a tailored module of wellbeing sessions to educate internal and external partners.

Methods The Wellbeing Clinical Specialist developed four, 90 minute in-person sessions, delivered over two months open to all CNs. The sessions included ‘Ethos of Wellbeing’, ‘What Matters to You’, ‘One Small Change’, ‘Essential Oils for Physical and Emotional Wellbeing’, and ‘Managing Fatigue’. CNs completed an anonymous survey two weeks after the final session to establish the impact.

Results Seventeen CNs attended one or more sessions. 100% reported that the sessions would help their role as a CN, and had also been personally beneficial and strengthened peer support. 83% had already shared and used their learning within two weeks of the final session. Feedback included: ‘I learned how small changes make big differences’ and ‘I enjoyed the collective sharing and learning experience’.

Conclusion Our evaluation demonstrated the value of this training to the CNs both personally and in their role. We will continue to offer this module as part of the CN induction programme, and we are linking with the Learning and Development team to enhance broader staff training opportunities.