Active Listening Hospice Volunteer

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Seasons Hospice is seeking mindful meditative folks in the Metro Denver area who would be interested in practicing active listening with the terminally ill. Your role would be to meet the patient where they are at, and to hold the space for their expression to manifest. Listen completely when the patient talks. Most people never listen, therefore subsequently most people are never fully heard. Deep listening is one of the most profound gifts you could share with a patient, let alone any human. Hearing is with the ears, but listening is with the whole essence of one’s being. It is something that cannot be faked. It shows. As Henry David Thoreau quipped, "it takes two to speak the truth- one to speak and another to hear."

There ought to be silence which precedes listening, as well as the silence that comes after the thought. Therfore, Active Listening volunteers are encouraged to reserve a minimum of fifteen minutes’ time before their visits to engage in their own personal meditation.

There is a never ending learning curve regarding one’s ability to listen and hold space. We hope you do not overthink the process. As the doctor Leo Buscaglia once said, "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

Seasons Hospice provides a comprehensive training that would be necessary before you would be able to connect with a patient. Most this could be done from the convenience of your own home, at your time. We estimate somewhere between 12 and 15 hours for this entire proccess.