|
We'd love you to help! Our volunteers are Mothers and Others from all round Australia, all working to promote breastfeeding, making it easier whether a mum is at home or at work. Our volunteers do much behind the scenes to further the objectives of the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
If you are already a subscriber to the Association you are already a supporter! If you have not yet subscribed, this is one way to help the Association.
There are many other ways people - both women and men - actively further the work of ABA. They do this by volunteering for the Association and using their life skills, previous training, education and other work experience. All contributions made by volunteers to ABA are all valued and valuable.
OK… so what can I do?
There are two ways you can go:
- Being a member who volunteers your existing expertise (being a mother! and more) or time to help facilitate the Association's work.
This could be at your local group level.
- Have you gone along to group activities and supported other mums, just by regular attendance?
- Have you offered to help on the roster at your group's Feed and Change tent during the local district festival?
- Offered to audit the group's books at the end of the financial year, because you are someone such as a book-keeper or bank teller or work in a financial management business, or teach business studies?
- Something you have just thought of? … contact your group leader and tell her!
This could be at a branch level.
ABA is divided into branches, mostly corresponding to State and Territory boundaries. Branch teams (branch president, assistants, treasurer, public relations officer, etc) are responsible for all the volunteers and groups in their branch and for state-related promotion of the Association and breastfeeding.
Have you offered to help on the roster at the ABA stall at a Mother and Baby Expo?
- Are you good at making grant applications?
- Do you feel passionate about providing good quality baby-care rooms in your city or region? You might like to take on a job coordinating Breastfeeding in Public facilities in your branch.
- Something you have just thought of? … contact your group leader, tell her and ask her how you can get in touch with the branch president!
This could be at a national level.
There are many ways your skills might be very helpful to the Association on a national level. You might have expertise in such fields as:
- proofreading: All our publications must be proofread before publication - Essence, Breastfeeding Review, booklets, Lactation Resource Centre publications, and many, many more.
 graphic design: ABA website, publications, booklet design, conference papers, posters, flyers.
- public relations and media - constantly challenging. Our PR teams have to respond immediately to media requests and often find mums and specific aged babies with just a few hours notice. Other volunteers are invaluable in scanning newspapers for breastfeeding articles, and alerting the PR people to misinformation.
- reading and summarising research papers: for the Lactation Research Centre, Breastfeeding Review, Essence, our booklets.
- Something you have just thought of? … contact your group leader, tell her and ask for the relevant Working Group contact!
- You might like to consider training to become a community educator or a breastfeeding counsellor. Training is on-the-job, flexible and fully supported with personnel and training resources. In ABA much training happens in the local group, so if you are considering this, you must be involved.
- A community educator is an advocate for breastfeeding, providing his/her local group with educational activities aimed at promoting and facilitating breastfeeding. These might include leading ABA group discussion meetings and Breastfeeding Education Classes, giving talks to schools and community service groups, organising displays, providing local media with articles on local group activities. The community educator may also take on other group roles, such as leading an ABA local group or being a breast pump hire officer; or being active on a regional, state or national level.
- His/her training involves completion of:
- 21797 Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education (Community) or at minimum
- 21797 Statement of Attainment in Community Education
- A breastfeeding counsellor counsels women who want breastfeeding information and support in non-medical breastfeeding areas. She may also be the local group leader and the breast pump hire officer. She is available for counselling at group activities and at any other incidental time, and is usually involved in email counselling and/or participating in counselling on the National Telephone Helpline.
- Her training involves completion of 21796 Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education (Counselling)
Yes, I am interested in volunteering!
We can find a niche for you!
Your support of the Association will also mean that you learn new skills and you'll find stimulating, challenging ways of putting your existing experience into practice.
ABA's Training
Training has always been a major feature of our Association's work, as learning and education is a core principle in the work we do with breastfeeding women and the community in general.
The Subscribers-only section of this website has more detail about ABA training. You may already have some questions … see if your question is answered below.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do you have to be a subscriber to ABA to do their training?
- Yes … and more than this, subscribers then become ABA members, signing to agree to abide by the Association's Code of Ethics.
- I want to help but I don't want to do any training. What can I do?
- ABA would be delighted to hear from you. There are many ways you can help in the Association. Here are just a few (and there are more ideas on the previous page):
- Become a subscriber if you are not already. Your subscription helps support the Vision, Mission and Objectives of the Association
- Continue your subscription once your children are bigger. Offer Essence to friends/family
- Become involved in local group activities
- Make a donation
- Offer your skills and expertise voluntarily for short-term projects, such as:
- reviewing parenting DVDs, books
- legal work
- auditing group accounts
- graphic design
- photography
- proofreading materials for publication
If you contact us at volunteering@breastfeeding.asn.au with an offer of your time and skills, we can find a niche for you.
- Is there any ABA training for health professionals who don't want to be breastfeeding counsellors or community educators?
- The Lactation Resource Centre offers professional development study modules and workshops. See www.lrc.asn.au
- What formal qualifications does ABA offer in its training?
-
ABA offers volunteer traineeships to eligible subscribers in the following nationally recognised courses:
- 21796VIC Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education (Counselling)
- 21797VIC Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education (Community)
- 21797VIC Statement of Attainment in Community Education
ABA also offers the following courses internally:
- 40104TAA Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- 40104 Statement of Attainment in Assessment
- Why are the Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education courses called volunteer traineeships?
-
Applicants who are accepted to train commit to work for the Association for a reasonable time on completion of their training in a voluntary capacity. During the approximately 12 months of training, there is significant practical on-the-job training through their local ABA group. All candidates for our courses are supported during their training by trainers, workplace mentors and assessors.
- Do ABA trained volunteers have special roles?
-
Yes. These are:
- Community educator
- Breastfeeding counsellor
A community educator is an advocate for all aspects of breastfeeding education in the community - giving talks to schools, tertiary students and community service groups; leading discussions in ABA groups and mothers' groups; running Breastfeeding Education Classes; and more. It is a very rewarding job that gives the opportunity to make a difference to families at an important time in their lives. Community educators' training includes extensive breastfeeding information and covers communication skills needed to give talks and lead discussions.
A counsellor does many of the same things as a community educator, but her training is more focused on the counselling skills needed when she is counselling breastfeeding mothers by telephone, face-to-face or email. Her training includes a thorough knowledge of an extensive range of non-medical breastfeeding situations, as well as the skills needed for community education.
- Are ABA breastfeeding counsellors and community educators paid?
-
No. Counsellors, community educators, group administrators, members of working groups, and more … work in a voluntary capacity. All counselling is free. Any payments for educational services are made to the Association. However the jobs these volunteers do are very satisfying and many of our volunteers find that they learn so much from being part of our Association that it helps them in many other aspects of their lives.
- Do breastfeeding counsellors and community educators work from an office?
-
No. Breastfeeding counsellors are at home, in their normal family setting, when they are telephone or email counselling. Community educators prepare their talks at home, and do talks in many different venues. Their work is voluntary.
- Where can I get more information about volunteering and training with the Australian Breastfeeding Association?
-
Training - Subscribers-only
Action Stations; Roles Vacant; Getting Involved - Subscribers-only
Your local ABA group leader. See Contact Us
volunteering@breastfeeding.asn.au - email your question to us.
The following documents give more details of the courses offered, our flexible training delivery, and general training information. See also Subscribers-only section - Training.
Further information about the Association is found at the page - About ABA.
From this page, you can download in pdf format:
Policies and Procedures relating to ABA training
Occupational Health and Safety Policy
|
