Volunteer Coach (Remote)

Coaching for Health volunteers bring commitment, creativity, tenacity, and humility to their work with clients. As members of a volunteer community, they continuously reflect on their work and help develop the Coaching for Health program to achieve greater impact.

Volunteer coaches assist individuals who live with chronic pain to learn self-management skills, regain function, and improve their well-being by providing coaching services over the phone and through video.

People with a lived experience of pain are highly encouraged to apply for this volunteer opportunity.

Please note that this volunteer opportunity is only open to current residents of British Columbia.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Use coaching tools and methods to empower clients to successfully self-manage; support clients to make meaningful changes for their health
- Demonstrate increasingly skilled use of coaching competencies and coaching tools
- Interact with clients, volunteers and staff in a respectful and empowering manner
- Adhere to provincial standards with regards to client confidentiality and privacy; Follow the program’s confidentiality policy
- Participate in skill-development training and skill-monitoring as required
- Consult and debrief with staff regarding challenging interactions
- Be alert to limitations of coaching service and know when to stop coaching and refer a client refer a client to the Pain BC staff
- Document client and coach interactions in a timely manner using database
- Participate in other Pain BC events and workshops as required and/or desired

MINIMUM TIME COMMITMENT:

- Attendance at an interview
- Completion of 40+ hours of training, including home/online preparation and a minimum of 40+ four feedback meetings with a more experienced volunteer or staff
- 100 hours of shifts (approximately 4 hours per week) over 8 to 12 months
- Attendance at a majority of training/reflection sessions held six times per year

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS/QUALIFICATIONS:

- An understanding of the impact/dynamics of chronic pain on well-being or personal experience of chronic pain, including successfully using self-management strategies to improve quality of life.
- Reliability, non-judgmental attitude, openness to learn, share and receive feedback, and commitment to supporting individuals and families from all backgrounds and cultures achieve better health outcomes
- Ability to recognize the need for support and direction
- Proficiency speaking and writing English; a second language is an asset
- Prior experience working with clients in healthcare or community and social service settings is an asset
- Computer competence, access to secure email, access to a private phone line and personal and video conferencing services (e.g. FaceTime, Skype, Zoom)

SUPERVISION:

- Volunteers must be comfortable working independently
- The Coaching for Health Lead and other Pain BC support services staff will be available via telephone or video during working hours

To apply for this volunteer opportunity, please go to our website to complete the application form below.

Volunteer training

The Coaching for Health training will be approximately 40 hours long, with a mix of self-guided online training and facilitated (live) online training sessions.

Live training sessions will be scheduled as follows; please note that some of the following times may be adjusted depending on program and volunteer considerations:

• Thursday, January 15, 2026: 12:00PM - 3:00PM
• Thursday, January 22, 2026: 12:00PM - 3:00PM
• Thursday, January 29, 2026: 12:00PM - 3:00PM
• Thursday, February 5, 2026: 12:00PM - 3:30PM
• Thursday, February 12, 2026: 12:00PM - 3:00PM
• Thursday, February 19, 2026: 12:00PM - 3:00PM

Attendance for live Zoom training days is required, and online modules are released between facilitation sessions. Live Zoom training days are not recorded for viewing later.

Participants are paired up and expected to do practice exercises between sessions, complete a recorded coaching session together at the end, as well as a peer-evaluation of up to 2 recordings from other participants. Participants must complete a criminal record check.

If you are able to commit to the training according to this timeline, please complete the application form on our website by clicking the apply button.

Once you have completed the application form, the Program Lead will be reaching out to candidates who have been selected for an interview.