Role: Befriending Service Coordinator Volunteer
Reports to: Social Team
Making Every Contact Count
If you are a warm and friendly person who enjoys speaking to people and creating friendships and social connections, then we need you.
We have learnt much about the impact of loneliness and the merits of companionship on our patient’s health, compounded and aggravated by social distancing during the Pandemic. Our Support at Home services are designed to tackle loneliness and social isolation, with companionship and social connectivity from a team of fully trained and DBS checked Befrienders.
We are looking for volunteers to work alongside our Social and Personal Health Budget Team at both our hospice locations, Selly Park and Erdington as Befrienders.
Our Befriending Volunteers help deliver our Support at Home services, supporting those patients at risk of social isolation or loneliness, or these wanting support to socialise, organise activities or give their support team a break. You will need good listening and communication skills, providing supportive relationships of trust and companionship with our patients and their families at a time when they need support the most.
The service offers three types of befriending led by patient choice and their communication/mobility preferences:
- Face to Face Befriending – in the home, hospice, or community venue
- Group Befriending – in the hospice and community venues
- Telephone Befriending – over the telephone for remote/rural patients or those with limited mobility/transport
The service is often used to bring older and younger people together to share a two-way learning experience by building trust and respect between generations, often helping patients to remain physically active and emotionally engaged.