A number of National Societies spoke about their experiences and their work during a psychosocial support workshop at the IFRC General Assembly in Geneva in November 2011. In sharing stories and lessons learned from past catastrophes and crises, one mes- sage became clear: We in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement need to be better at training and preparing our staff and volunteers for the important work they do in helping beneficiaries. We also need to be better at taking care of ourselves – and of each other.

Caring for Volunteers: Training Manual was developed to answer these expressed needs. It is designed to complement the PS Centre’s 2012 publication, Caring for Volunteers:A Psychosocial Support Toolkit, which focuses on volunteers’ well-being in situations of crisis or catastrophe. It builds on the tools presented in the toolkit, by providing concrete activities and exercises for implementing psychosocial support for volunteers in various contexts.

The manual sets the context for psychosocial support for volunteers, including the key concepts and definitions needed by trainers in the field. It articulates the possible risks to volunteers’ well-being in their role, and presents strategies for reducing those risks. It includes sessions on self-care, peer support and PFA and has guidance on how to set up a support system for volunteers and on monitoring and evaluation. The training also includes a valuable session on making an action plan to follow up the work done in the training. An appendix featuring a training of trainers accompanies this manual.