The counseling is a professional service managed by teams of social workers in each of the local branches of the National Insurance Institute.
The professional team recruits volunteers for the service and trains them in national courses given at the various universities. The professional team also provides group instruction for the volunteers at the branches, and directly monitors and accompanies their work.
Volunteers:
They are retirees, age 55 and above, who are ready and willing to contribute their time on a regular basis to other elderly people in the community. The service is provided by the volunteers, and each one of them signs a personal confidentiality agreement.
The service is proposed to the elderly community as a whole in Israel and basically operates in two ways:
Direct contact
Contact made with the service, directly or indirectly, by the elderly person or his family, to obtain information, assistance, support and guidance in issues connected with the National Insurance Institute, or various community services.
Initiated contact
The department initiates contact with the elderly (according to NII data on advanced age, family status and functional condition), in order to locate elderly people who may be in danger and in distress.
Training courses for new volunteers:
Every year, beginning in October or November (about a month after the end of the holidays), 7 courses begin in gradual succession to train new volunteers who have been recruited during the past year. The courses train the volunteers to work with the elderly and acquaint them with fields of knowledge connected with their work in the service. Training courses for new volunteers.