Befriending: Part of the solution to loneliness
A look at two local charities providing a valuable befriending service to our community and their volunteering opportunities.
“If it wasn’t for my befriender and the befriending scheme, I would be stranded without hope.”
Linking Lives Client
This month, we are looking at two local charities who provide a valuable befriending service. Linking Lives Bedford uses volunteers to help improve the lives of people through friendship, and Friend for Life a local charity working to address the social isolation of residents in Bedford’s care homes.
Katherine Cameron, Linking Lives befriending co-ordinator talks about loneliness and how their service seeks to be a part of the solution:
According to the Campaign to End Loneliness, an estimated 9 million people are lonely in the UK. Research shows that loneliness can be as detrimental to a person’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is associated with negative health outcomes such as high blood pressure, heart disease and strokes. Yet many people in our town can go all week without speaking to anyone.
So much has changed for many over the last 2 years, but those who felt lonely before the pandemic happened, probably feel even more on their own now. In this season we have all discovered that friendship and connection are so important to our wellbeing and stability.
CS Lewis said: "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which gives value to survival". So, what can we do to nurture friendship and, as CS Lewis said, give value to our survival?
The Linking Lives Befriending service was set up two years ago to help provide a way for people to access genuine friendship and end loneliness and isolation. Volunteers come from all walks of life and aim to connect up with someone who has requested contact once a week. The reliability and regularity of the service gives service users something to look forward to with confidence.
We receive requests for support (or ‘referrals’) from a range of places including key organisations in the area who work with those experiencing loneliness such as BedsRCC and the NHS. Some referrals may also be received from family members or the individual themselves, if they feel they would benefit from the service. Once an assessment has been made, they are then matched with a volunteer who has been trained to work with those who are experiencing loneliness and isolation. Conversation is encouraged, as well as listening and often genuine friendship has the opportunity to flourish. And laughter too – as this Linking Lives client tells us:
“My befriender is marvellous, she made me laugh when I hadn’t laughed for years. When I asked for help, I was in a dark place, I am not anymore. I get dressed now, I used to stay in my pyjamas. We had so much in common. I can’t fault my befriender at all. It’s all been wonderful. She is magic. “
Our befriending volunteers meet up with their scheme user once a week or fortnightly. They meet in the scheme members home or a local café, they may even go out for a walk together. Due to the covid pandemic there have been lots of phone calls too.
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One befriender says:
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Charlie Fay, from Friends for Life tells us about their work in addressing the negative impact that loneliness can have on a person’s well-being:
Social isolation is more prevalent than ever. We help to address the impact of this in elderly people by recruiting volunteers to become personal befrienders,
offering friendship and company to care home residents who have few or no external visitors.
We also focus on bringing the community into the local care homes and facilitate relationships between community groups, businesses and schools to prevent social isolation and that feeling of being ‘forgotten’. We are always looking for new connections and ways for residents to be a greater part of the community and to improve their wellbeing.
During COVID-19 we have adapted our service to offer telephone befriending, video calls and letter writing and this is something we continue to offer for those residents who may be unable to access face to face befriending.
Our volunteers play a vital role in our service and their commitment to regularly visiting a resident and building that relationship is absolutely key. “When I visit my friend Maurice I get great satisfaction from seeing his eyes light up with a broad smile on his face. I know from feedback from staff that my visits are the highlight of his day or even his week and that in turn makes my day and week to know that it's something that Maurice looks forward to. We go out and chat like a couple of old friends.” (Quote from Trevor, FFL volunteer).
Friends for Life currently befriends around 70 residents but would love to grow this number. Pauline, Friends for Life Volunteer Coordinator, invites you to volunteer with them whatever your background or age. She says “all that matters to us is your passion for supporting home care residents at risk of loneliness”. You will be fully trained and supported during your role.
Volunteering Opportunities
If you would like to join either of these two organisations as a volunteer or take up other local opportunities to become a befriender, here are the opportunities we hold on our Simply Connect Volunteering system. You can use the system to express an interest in an opportunity and the organisation will get back to you and tell you how to take things forward.
Creative Support:
Carers in Bedfordshire:
Friends for Life:
Linking Lives:
To talk further about volunteering, or if you would like some help using our Simply Connect Platform, then please do get in touch.
tel: 01234 354366
