What the scheme is
This scheme supports volunteer visits to provide friendship and companionship to older people.
Visits are available to anyone who:
- receives government-subsidised residential aged care or Support at Home package, including care recipients approved or on the National Priority System for residential or Support at Home
- is socially isolated.
We work with around 130 community organisations to recruit and support volunteer visitors to visit socially isolated and vulnerable older Australians.
The scheme has been running for over 30 years. It was previously known as the Community Visitors Scheme (CVS).
Why it is important
Some older people can feel alone for various reasons. This includes:
- feeling isolated from their culture and heritage
- little contact with friends or relatives
- mobility issues that prevent them from taking part in social or leisure activities
- being different in some way.
Regular visits from volunteer visitors can help to improve quality of life and help older people feel less isolated.
Goals
Volunteer visiting is a free service that aims to:
- provide friendship and companionship to older people
- help develop social connections.
It focuses on the needs of older people from particular diverse, cultural and complex vulnerability backgrounds who may be at greater risk of social isolation. These include people who are:
- from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- veterans (note: Veterans Home Care (VHC) or Community Nursing (CN) recipients must also receive Commonwealth funded Support at Home package)
- from culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- financially or socially disadvantaged
- experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness
- parents and children separated by forced adoption or removal
- adult survivors of institutional child sexual abuse
- care-leavers, including Forgotten Australians and former child migrants planed in out of home care
- lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/transgender, intersex, or other sexual orientations, or are gender diverse or bodily diverse
- living with a disability or mental ill-health
- neurodivergent
- deaf, deafblind, vision impaired hard of hearing
- living in rural, remote, or very remote areas.
How it works
We fund community organisations to:
- recruit, train and support volunteer visitors
- conduct police checks for volunteer visitors
- match volunteer visitors to older people receiving aged care
- support the relationships that form between the volunteer visitors and the people they visit.
Volunteers visit at least 20 times per year. They can be:
- one-on-one or group visits to residential aged care homes
- one-on-one visits to people receiving Support at Home.
Older people can refer themselves. The scheme also accepts referrals from:
- aged care service providers
- family members
- friends
- health professionals.
Learn more about how to become a volunteer visitor.
Request a volunteer visitor (for yourself or someone else, with their consent).
Who we work with
Network members represent each state and territory. Their role is to:
- support community organisations to deliver the scheme
- coordinate volunteer visitors and services in each state and territory
- help communication between community organisations and us.
We manage and organise regular reviews of the scheme.
Community organisations we work with
Community organisations are funded through grant rounds to provide services.
| State or territory | Organisation |
|---|---|
| ACT | Ageing With Grace |
| ACT | Australian Red Cross Society |
| ACT | Council on the Ageing (ACT) |
| ACT | Feros Care |
| ACT | HammondCare |
| ACT | Meridian |
| ACT | Ms Plus |
| NSW | Accessible Diversity Services Initiative |
| NSW | Acon Health |
| NSW | Ageing With Grace |
| NSW | Anglican Community Services (Anglicare Sydney) |
| NSW | Australian Nursing Home Foundation |
| NSW | Australian Red Cross Society |
| NSW | Belong Blue Mountains |
| NSW | Catholic Healthcare |
| NSW | CatholicCare Sydney |
| NSW | CCNB (Belong) |
| NSW | Chester Hill Neighbourhood Centre |
| NSW | Chinese Australian Services Society |
| NSW | Co As It Italian Association of Assistance |
| NSW | Feros Care |
| NSW | Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia consolidated Trust Greek Welfare Centre |
| NSW | HammondCare |
| NSW | Hunter Volunteer Centre |
| NSW | Hurstville Enterprise Association for People Services (St Georges Career Development Centre) |
| NSW | Intereach |
| NSW | Ku-Ring-Gai Neighbourhood Centre (KNC) |
| NSW | Lifeline Northern Beaches |
| NSW | Linked Community Services |
| NSW | Manning Support Services |
| NSW | Many Rooms |
| NSW | Meridian |
| NSW | Ms Plus |
| NSW | Multicultural Care |
| NSW | Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra |
| NSW | Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of New South Wales |
| NSW | Neighbourhood Central |
| NSW | Northern Rivers Community Gateway |
| NSW | Northern Settlement Services (Mosaic Multicultural Connections) |
| NSW | Orange City Council |
| NSW | Oxley Community Transport Service |
| NSW | Pathways Community Care |
| NSW | Riverina Community College |
| NSW | Spanish Community Care Association |
| NSW | St Vincent's Care Services |
| NSW | Sydney Local Health District |
| NSW | The Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (NSW) |
| NSW | Toukley Neighbourhood Centre |
| NSW | Volunteering Central Coast |
| NSW | Volunteering Coffs Harbour |
| NSW | Wesley Community Services |
| NSW | Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre |
| NT | Ageing With Grace |
| NT | MVP Wellbeing |
| Qld | All Aged Care |
| Qld | Burdekin Community Association |
| Qld | Co.As.It. Community Services |
| Qld | Comlink Australia |
| Qld | Community Gro |
| Qld | Eddison and Clare (Sunnycare Home Services) |
| Qld | Emerge Community Care |
| Qld | Feros Care |
| Qld | Footprints Community |
| Qld | Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre |
| Qld | IMPACT Community Services |
| Qld | Latin American Community of Australia (Qld) |
| Qld | Mackay Community Visitors Association |
| Qld | Many Rooms |
| Qld | MiCare |
| Qld | MultiLink Community Services |
| Qld | Queensland Community Care Network |
| Qld | Queensland Council for LGBTI Health |
| Qld | Seventh Day Adventist Church Community Visitation Program |
| Qld | Skill Centred Queensland |
| Qld | St John Ambulance Australia Queensland |
| Qld | St Vincent's Care Services |
| Qld | Star Community Services |
| Qld | Suncare Community Services |
| Qld | The Corporation of the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane (Anglicare Southern Queensland) |
| Qld | Volunteering Gold Coast |
| Qld | Warrina Innisfail Auxiliary |
| Qld | Wesley Mission Queensland |
| Qld | Wynnum Baptist Church Community Visitors Scheme |
| SA | Australian Red Cross Society |
| SA | Chinese Welfare Services of South Australia |
| SA | Community Care and Transport (Care in Motion) |
| SA | Council on the Ageing (South Australia) |
| SA | Enfield Baptist Church |
| SA | Golden Retriever Club of South Australia |
| SA | HammondCare |
| SA | Helping Hand Aged Care |
| SA | Lutheran Church of Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory District |
| SA | Mount Barker District Council |
| SA | Multicultural Communities Council of SA |
| SA | Southern Volunteering (SA) |
| SA | St John Ambulance Australia South Australia |
| SA | The City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters |
| SA | Thorne Harbour Health |
| Tas | Australian Red Cross Society |
| Tas | genU Karingal St Laurence |
| Tas | Lifeline Tasmania |
| Tas | Working It Out |
| Vic | Ageing With Grace |
| Vic | Australian Greek Welfare Society (Pronia) |
| Vic | Australian Multicultural Community Services |
| Vic | Australian Red Cross Society |
| Vic | Australian-Filipino Community Services (CPCA Victoria) |
| Vic | Balwyn Evergreen Centre |
| Vic | C Care |
| Vic | Central Bayside Community Health Services (Better Health Network) |
| Vic | Chabad Institutions of Victoria |
| Vic | Colac Area Health |
| Vic | DEG (Active Community Group) |
| Vic | Doncaster Community Care and Counselling Centre |
| Vic | Elder Rights Australia Ltd |
| Vic | Feros Care |
| Vic | Fronditha Care |
| Vic | HammondCare |
| Vic | Inclusion Melbourne |
| Vic | Intereach |
| Vic | Jocare - Caring for Neighbours |
| Vic | genU Karingal St Laurence |
| Vic | Latrobe Community Health Service |
| Vic | Macedon Ranges Shire Council |
| Vic | Many Rooms |
| Vic | MECWA |
| Vic | Melbourne City Mission |
| Vic | MiCare |
| Vic | Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne) |
| Vic | Ms Plus |
| Vic | MVP Wellbeing |
| Vic | Russian Ethnic Representative Council of Victoria |
| Vic | Sacred Heart Mission |
| Vic | Serbian Community Association of Australia |
| Vic | Smile on Seniors Oz |
| Vic | Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre |
| Vic | St Vincent's Care Services |
| Vic | Switchboard (Victoria) |
| Vic | Tabulam and Templer Homes for the Aged |
| Vic | The Centre for Continuing Education |
| Vic | Thorne Harbour Health |
| Vic | United- Spanish Latin American Welfare Centre |
| WA | Advocare Incorporated |
| WA | Association for Culturally Appropriate Services |
| WA | Australian Red Cross Society |
| WA | Baptistcare WA |
| WA | City of Stirling |
| WA | Dutch Aged Care, Western Australia (CURA) |
| WA | Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex Rights in Ageing (GRAI) |
| WA | Home and Lifestyle Options |
| WA | Italo-Australian Welfare & Cultural Centre |
| WA | Living Stone Foundation (Lifeline WA) |
| WA | Melville Cares |
| WA | Multicultural Services Centre of Western Australia |
| WA | Nuhra Community |
| WA | People Who Care |
| WA | Riverview Community Services |
| WA | Shire of Esperance |
| WA | Umbrella - Multicultural Community Care Services |
Evaluation and review
We appointed Monash University to evaluate the ACVVS from 2023–2026.
The evaluation will test the:
- effectiveness of the social support intervention in improving quality of life for participants (recipients and volunteer visitors) through reduction of social isolation and loneliness
- effectiveness of the social support intervention for diverse, complex vulnerability and cultural groups including funding models and delivery pathways
- cost effectiveness of the intervention’s impact on health, mental health and aged care service usage for care recipients
- extent to which the scheme has achieved its intended program outcomes.
Date last updated: