Volunteers are at the heart of what we do  

Every year in Ireland almost 9,000 people die from heart disease and stroke and a further hundreds of thousands are living with a heart condition or the life-long effects of a stroke.

The Irish Heart Foundation is a community of people who fight to protect and care for every heart affected by heart disease or stroke in Ireland and support those living with these life-changing conditions.

Volunteers are at the heart of what we do and we couldn’t do it without your support.

At the Irish Heart Foundation, we offer a range of support services to help improve the quality of life and well-being of people and their carers after a heart event or stroke.

From simply phoning someone for a chat, to providing vital peer support or driving a vulnerable stroke patient to their support group, your act of kindness can make a real difference.

We are always looking for volunteers to help us with our work.

Volunteer roles

Listed below are a variety of flexible volunteer roles we are currently recruiting for:

Patient Support Telephone Volunteers

• Stroke Connect Service Telephone Volunteer: this role involves working as part of the experienced Stroke Connect team to help members and their carers to live well after stroke. You will be allocated a small caseload making health and well-being calls weekly over a number of weeks. You will be supported by your assigned Patient Support Coordinator and the Stroke Connect Coordinator. We would need you to commit to giving up to 4 hours per week and to attend an online monthly check-in meeting with the programme lead.
• Let’s Talk Telephone Peer Volunteer: this role involves a person who has lived experience of heart disease or stroke, or who has cared for someone living with cardiovascular disease. The volunteer will ring a member to share their lived experience and help them on their recovery journey. In this role you will be trained and fully supported by our Let’s Talk Programme Lead. You will have a small caseload of calls to make, and we will try match volunteers to members that are most suited. This helps both the volunteer and the member to really benefit from the calls.
• Heart & Stroke Intro Telephone Volunteer: this role involves a volunteer phoning a member who has been referred to us, to inform them of the information and support services available through the Irish Heart Foundation. The volunteer also records consent so that we can move the member along on the recovery journey. You will be one of the first people they speak to on behalf of the IHF. You will be assigned a caseload by your Programme Lead, who will also support you.

Patient Support E-Volunteer for our online supports

• Patient Support E-Volunteer Moderation Volunteer: in this role, there are two areas you can support our work – online with our social or information sessions or moderating our private Facebook groups for our members:
  • Online E-Volunteer Moderator: this role involves you assisting our Patient Services Team with moderation of the online support sessions, mainly via Zoom. We would need you to commit to either a weekly or monthly online Zoom session that may last up to two hours.
  • E-volunteer Moderator for our private Facebook support groups: this role involves you assisting with the moderation of our private Facebook support groups either during the week Monday to Friday (9-4pm) or over the weekend, Saturday or Sunday (10am -6pm) on a rota basis. You will be supported by the Programme Lead and a team of E-Volunteer Supervisors. You will be part of an E-Volunteer Moderation Team. You will receive full training with an emphasis on how to escalate a concern. We would need you to commit to moderation shifts ranging from 2 to 4 hours weekly or fortnightly.

Community Supports

• Community Group Facilitator: this role involves overseeing the running of the community support group under the supervision of the Programme Lead. You will help organise groups, activities, speakers, record attendance and carry out risk assessments to ensure adherence to health and safety for all members and fellow volunteers. You will help coordinate the community volunteer team for the group you are overseeing.
• Community Group Volunteer:  this role involves assisting with our in-person support groups in the community. You will be supported by our Patient Support Services Coordinators. This role involves engaging with our members and encouraging them and their carers on the recovery journey. Our Community Volunteers are the face of the Irish Heart Foundation at a community level and may also assist by representing the Irish Heart Foundation with cheques collections, school presentations and campaigns when needed.
• Community Driver Volunteer: this involves collecting members and driving them to their support groups, collecting them afterwards and bringing them home. You will be supported by the Patient Support Services Coordinator.
• Peer Social Meet Up Facilitator Volunteer: This involves facilitating a more casual meet up for our stroke or heart members in a café or library. Our volunteers have lived experience of the condition or have cared for someone with a heart or stroke, or have facilitation experience.

In our Irish Heart Foundation office in Rathmines

• Irish Heart Foundation Administration Volunteer: in this role, Administration Volunteers come into the Irish Heart Foundation head office in Rathmines to help with administrative work/data input, telephone calls and special projects. You will be supported by the Programme Lead of the area you are assisting with. Depending on service need you may be assigned to our Patient Services Department, Health Promotion Information and Training Department or possibly in another Department in the Irish Heart Foundation offices in Rathmines.

Patient Advocacy Volunteers

• Irish Heart Foundation Patient Champion: in this role, you will volunteer as a heart, stroke or carer champion who wants to give back and help advocate for the needs of others through our work. This will include attending conferences, joining focus groups, assisting with media coverage or helping with national campaigns and advocating at local level to TDs etc. Volunteers will be assisted and supported by our  Advocacy Department.

Additional information on IHF volunteer requirements:

Vetting volunteer requirements

• Be over the age of 18
• Submit a completed Irish Heart Foundation Application Form
• Complete a telephone interview
• Successfully complete a Garda vetting check
• Provide two written or verbal references

Mandatory Training includes

• Welcome Induction 
• Specific Training for your Volunteer Role 
• An Introduction to Children First Training 
• Safeguarding Adults at Risk of Abuse Training 

Other Training that maybe required for specific roles

• CPR / Hands for Life Training
• Let’s Talk about Suicide Training 
• Manual Handling and People Handling Training   
• Health & Safety / Risk Assessments Training  
• Database Training  
• Reporting with Programme Lead Training  

This list is not exhaustive and can change and develop on service requirement. 

Benefits of Volunteering with the Irish Heart Foundation:  

• Full training provided
• Ongoing support and guidance
• Development of skill set
• References provided upon completion of required period of service (Min 6 months) 
• Experience of working with a national charity 
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family 
• Make a valuable contribution to heart patients and stroke survivors recovery journey 
• Corporate giving days options for your workplace 

Next steps

If you would like to find out more about our flexible volunteering opportunities please complete our volunteer expression of interest form below. 

For more information on our volunteer recruitment process, please click here to download IHF Volunteer Recruitment Process

If you require any further information, please email If you require any further information, please email ihfvolunteer@irishheart.ie and we will get to you as soon as possible.  

Note: Garda Vetting and reference checks are a requirement for all volunteer roles within our organisation.