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After many years of dedication and passion, Robyn Swanson and Julie Gissing have recently retired from managing the Sacred Heart Biography Service at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst. Their journey, which began as volunteers themselves, has left a lasting impact not just on their clients and volunteers, but also on biography services across NSW. Without them, the fourteen other biography services which are currently active in NSW may have never eventuated.

It all began in 2009 when Robyn contacted St Vincent’s Hospital who asked her what kind of volunteering she was interested in. Having completed the biography training at Eastern Palliative Care in Victoria, she suggested that, and they took her on before there was even a service or any other volunteers.

Julie completed the EPC biography training the following year and joined the Sacred Heart Biography Service which then had 4 volunteers. As Robyn and Julie gained experience, they took on recruiting, training and supporting the volunteers as a group.

Robyn and Julie met the CEO of St Vincent’s at a function in 2015. After discussing the service, the CEO was so impressed he initiated the creation of a 0.6 FTE Volunteer Manager role, funded for three years by a bequest trust fund. Six years later this position became permanent, and the hospital committed to ongoing funding, with some funds coming from the Federal Government’s End of life Enhancement Program.

Starting in January 2016, after a successful job application, Robyn and Julie began job sharing this lead role. They recruited volunteers twice a year for seven years and built the service from the ground up.

They feel having volunteered was a great advantage. Leaning in to this perspective they offered their volunteers professional guidance and personal care, offering activities like walking the labyrinth and forest bathing to encourage self-care.

“We always knew the value of investing time and effort into supporting our volunteers,” Julie said.

“We were in a unique situation and very blessed to have each other. Brainstorming and supporting each other – there was no one else in the organisation who understood what we were doing,” said Robyn.

Sacred Heart Biography Service now has around 35 very dedicated and committed volunteers but it is more than a sum of its parts. The biography service brings prestige and good news stories to a health setting. Staff love it because they can offer something non-medical to their patients and it provides an enormous sense of purpose to the volunteers.

“It means everything to the patients and their families. The impact is profound. Everyone has a story to tell. It’s not about having a brilliant career or amazing achievements – it’s about the person and their journey” Julie said. “But what really sets the service apart is how it benefits every person who comes into contact with it: the volunteers themselves, offering them a sense of joy and fulfillment, and the staff from the palliative care team.”

Volunteers find the experience incredibly rewarding and say they learn something new with every biography they work on.

“When you tell people what you do, they often say how hard that must be. But the volunteers always say it’s the best job they’ve ever had,” Robyn said.

Their parting advice to managers of other biography services is to do a few biographies themselves, so they know what the volunteers are working with.

“It’s important to spend time supporting the team and making sure the volunteers feel they can come to you for help. And try to fly under the radar – ask forgiveness, not permission,” Julie recommended.

As for what the future holds, both Robyn and Julie are excited to embark on new adventures. Robyn is particularly excited about the work she and Julie are doing with an Aboriginal elder in Sydney to document his life story. Julie is equally looking forward to new opportunities, including facilitating life story writing groups alongside Robyn.

“To finish my career doing what I’ve done has been such a privilege,” Robyn said. “It was so much more than a job. It was my passion.”

“We were so lucky to have found this. You could go through life and never have this kind of opportunity,” Julie reflected.

They have left the service in the capable hands of two new managers, Olivia Andrews and Emma Rossi, and are sure they will enjoy their roles as much as they did.

Sacred Heart’s Biography Service was the only palliative care biography service in NSW until 2019 when PCNSW began engaging Robyn and Julie to train other palliative care volunteer managers in setting up and running a biography service. Now, there are 14 active biography services across the state, a testament to the lasting impact Robyn and Julie have made in their field.

Palliative Care NSW are running this biography service training again on April 2. Spaces are filling quickly. For more information, please click here.

Photo: Robyn Swanson, left, and Julie Gissing, right.