Telephone Befriending Volunteer

What would I be doing as a telephone befriender?

The aim of telephone befriending is to reduce feelings of social isolation and loneliness in older people. Volunteers are required to ring an older person to check on them and build a friendship.

What impact would I have?

One half an hour call seems really simple, but having someone to talk to and someone to listen, could really make a difference to an older person. It could be that you’re the only person they speak to that day, or even that week. Our telephone befriending service has become increasingly important during the Covid-19 outbreak as people become more isolated whilst staying indoors.

How does it work?

Our befrienders are introduced to an older person, either through a telephone call or a free video calling programme like Skype (this would depend if the older person had access to a home broadband connection).

The calling is flexible, we recommend you try and keep the call to the same time and day every week, but it’s up to you and you can discuss this on your first call.

Skills

Why volunteer for MHA?

If you are passionate about caring for older people, MHA is the place for you. We are a national charity inspiring the best care at every stage of later life. It is our mission to enable people to live later life well and you could help us achieve this. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, this is more important than ever and we need help in order to keep up the levels of excellent care that we provide.