Befriending and Mentoring
Volunteer Befriending
Volunteer Now provides a range of volunteer befriending, driving and practical services for the most vulnerable and isolated older persons in the community. This has been funded by Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and its predecessors for over 16 years.
One to One Befriending Service
Volunteer Now’s Belfast befriending scheme supports older people mainly in South and East Belfast and Castlereagh who are socially isolated or ‘at risk of social isolation’ by providing a volunteer befriender to visit them in their home on a regular basis to provide company and have a chat. Our clients are vulnerable older people who may have become isolated due to ill health, bereavement or lack of family support. Having a volunteer befriender can help to reduce feelings of loneliness and low mood and give an older person the confidence to lead a more fulfilling life.
Volunteer Now’s befriending scheme is funded by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. The Trust was recently awarded the Funder/ Commissioner National Recognition Award by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation. Vivienne Dunlop, a volunteer who has been befriending an older person for nearly twenty years, was awarded the ‘Befriender Recognition Award’ for Northern Ireland. These awards recognised the impact that befriending schemes can have; our volunteers can help to improve an older person’s quality of life and mental health.
Capacity-Building Services
Volunteer Now has extensive experience in providing befriending services and is currently offering capacity building support to organisations in Belfast who are delivering, or wish to establish, befriending schemes for older people. This may include charities, community groups, churches, good morning schemes or nursing homes. We can provide best practice advice and materials as well as free training packages. This direct support is available to organisations regardless of size.
Contact Us
If you are an organisation currently delivering or would like to establish a befriending service for older people please contact:
Ian Cardwell or Victoria O’Neill
Community Projects Team
ian.cardwell@volunteernow.co.uk - 028 90 818333
victoria.oneill@volunteernow.co.uk - 028 90 818328
© 2012 Volunteer Now
