Theme: ‘To volunteer is to face challenges’ and its subthemes
| London | Porto | Brussels | |
| Barriers | Stigma is a big issue | Lack of education and stigma of mental illness (Falta de educação e estigma da doença mental) | Mental health stigma (Stigmatisation envers la santé mentale) |
| Odd or artificial idea to provide friends to people | Being a novelty (Ser uma novidade) | Bad image of volunteering (Mauvaise image du bénévolat) | |
| Bureaucracy and time to get a Disclosure and Barring Service check | Lack of resources (Falta de recursos) | Lack of recognition (Manque de reconnaissance) | |
| Problem with distances and transports | Long distances (Distâncias longas) | Complexity of dealing with the different languages in the country (Complexité de la gestion des différentes langues du pays) | |
| Difficult to deal with differences of culture, religion and language | Dealing with behaviour of patients (Lidar com o comportamento dos doentes) | Dealing with someone with psychosis (Interagir avec une personne souffrant de psychose) | |
| Risks | Selecting untrustworthy volunteers | Involving others besides the volunteers (Envolver outras pessoas além dos voluntários) | Volunteers do their own volunteering (Les bénévoles font leur propre bénévolat) |
| Burden for the volunteers | Over-involvement of the volunteer and the patient (Sobreenvolvimento do voluntário e do doente) | Being heavy for the volunteer (Lourd pour le bénévole) | |
| Risk of over-professionalising volunteers | Do a professional job, but not paid (Fazer um trabalho profissional, mas não pago) | Risk of being unpaid work (Risque d’être un travail non rémunéré) | |
| Providing a volunteer to a patient that is not interested | Exposing patients to risky behaviours (Expor os doentes a comportamentos de risco) | Volunteers not listening to the patients (Les bénévoles n’écoutent pas les patients) | |
| Volunteers that undermine clinicians’ work | Relationship is ‘toxic’ to the patient (Relação seja ‘tóxica’ para o doente) | Manipulate the patient (Manipuler le patient) | |
| To end the relationship | Become dependent on the volunteer (Tornar-se dependente do voluntário) | Risk of breaking the relationship (Risque de rupture) |