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 Home Care Packages, including care recipients approved or on the National Priority System for residential or home care packages
- is socially isolated.
We work with around 140 community organisations (auspices) to recruit and support volunteers to visit socially isolated 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 volunteers 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 linguistic, cultural and complex vulnerability backgrounds who may be at greater risk of social isolation. These include people:
- from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- who live in rural or remote areas
- who are financially or socially disadvantaged
- who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
- who are veterans (note: Veterans Home Care (VHC) or Community Nursing (CN) recipients must also receive Commonwealth funded Home Care Package service)
- who are care leavers
- who are parents separated from their children by forced adoption or removal
- who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex
- living with a disability
- who are deaf or hearing impaired/hard of hearing
- living with cognitive impairment, including dementia
- experiencing mental health conditions and/or who have been exposed to trauma.
How it works
We fund community organisations (auspices) to:
- recruit, train and support volunteer visitors
- conduct police checks for volunteers
- match volunteers to older people receiving aged care
- support the relationships that form between the volunteers 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 Home Care Packages.
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).
Who we work with
Community organisations (auspices) are funded through grant rounds to provide services.
Network members represent each state and territory. Their role is to:
- support community organisations (auspices) to deliver the scheme
- coordinate volunteers and services in each state and territory
- help communication between community organisations (auspices) and us.
We manage and organise regular reviews of the scheme.
Community organisations we work with
There are network members representing each state and territory. Their role is to:
- support community organisations (auspices) to deliver the scheme
- coordinate volunteers and services in each state and territory
- help communication between community organisations (auspices) and us.
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 volunteers) 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.