Volunteers can participate in a variety of activities and ventures at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre and Royal Ottawa Place in the following ways (Note: not all positions are currently needed):
- Administrative Support – photocopying, collating, stuffing envelopes, etc. as needed;
- Addictions Speaker – speaking to inpatients about Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous (volunteers should be current AA or NA members with a minimum of two years sobriety);
- Addictions Program – assisting with the Smoking Cessation group;
- Advisory Committees – providing input to improve hospital services from a consumer point of view;
- Café – selling beverages, snacks and light lunches to patients, visitors and staff;
- Computer – helping outpatients learn basic computer skills;
- Day Hospital Host/ess – making geriatric outpatients feel safe and comfortable;
- Day Hospital Program Assistant – assisting staff with geriatric outpatients in a structured program;
- Driver – driving outpatients to and from appointments at the hospital;
- Laundry – doing laundry for geriatric inpatients that don’t have family support;
- Library Cart – circulating a cart of reading material to inpatients;
- Literacy – under the supervision of an experienced instructor, assisting outpatients with basic through high school level math and language skills;
- Meal Assistant – helping geriatric inpatients at mealtime;
- Mental Health Community Library – helping patients, families and the general public locate information on psychiatric illnesses, hospital and community resources;
- Partners in Art Assistant – helping stage an annual Art Show held each October;
- Pianist – playing easy-listening music for seniors;
- Porter – picking-up pharmacy slips and delivering medication;
- Program Assistant – doing a variety of tasks including preparing for events, helping one-on-one with long-term care residents at Royal Ottawa Place;
- Recreation – helping staff with group activities for patients such as crafts, bingo, outings, music, gardening and physical activity;
- Religious and Spiritual Care – playing piano or escorting patients to services;
- Research – assisting IMHR staff in a variety of research projects;
- Salon Assistant – helping the hairdresser with non-professional tasks;
- Special Events – helping at the annual comedy night, selling Christmas trees or other special events; and
- Used Clothing Shop – sorting and selling clothing for re-sale at a nominal cost
In addition, the Association’s Board of Directors which is elected at the Annual General Meeting, has specific volunteering opportunities, including:
- Banking Deposits – counting the monies raised by the shops and depositing the proceeds to the appropriate bank account.
- Board of Directors – guiding the policy and decision-making processes of the Volunteer Association;
- Clerical – inputting financial data and filing invoices for the Volunteer Association; and
- Committees – being responsible for the governance, financial and fundraising activities of the Volunteer Association; helping organize specific events (for example, Christmas tree sales and comedy night)