Loneliness Awareness Week: Let’s Talk Loneliness
Loneliness Awareness Week
This week is Loneliness Awareness Week. The aim of the campaign is to get people talking about their own experiences with loneliness and to share ways we can all help those dealing with feeling lonely. Even as social distancing measures ease, it is important to recognise that people can still feel isolated, so more than ever we need to be talking about loneliness.
In honour of the topic, we have been speaking to our own befriender, Janet, who has been volunteering with us since November 2020 as a Team Talk befriender.
Team Talk Befriending
The idea started during the first Lockdown last year when our Social Prescribing team, unable to see patients face-to-face, started offering wellbeing calls to those most at risk. Some of these were a quick three minute check that they were ok, but others became a weekly call where the conversation could flow for over an hour! We really felt we made a difference and we wanted to continue this service even when the Social Prescribing team returned to seeing patients once again. Thus Team Talk Befriending came about.
We take referrals from practices, and match you to a suitable befriender, they will make an initial phone call to introduce themselves and then it is up to you, how much contact you would like. The befrienders are all based at Waters Green Medical Centre whilst making the calls and follow the same confidentiality policies you would expect from your GP Practice.
What is it like to volunteer with us?
We asked Janet what she thought about volunteering with us:
I started my volunteering roles in November 2020 with befriending phone calls. Each week I phone people in the community and have a chat about how they are getting on. In the six months I have been doing this role, I feel as though I have made a difference but also made some friends. I am fully supported by the Primary Care Team and if any issues have arisen, with the people I call, they are followed up straight away.
More Information
To find out more about the roles, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator for a friendly chat:
Victoria Newton
Email: cheshireccg.teamvolunteer.mpcn@nhs.net
Website: https://www.macclesfieldprimarycarenetwork.co.uk/team-volunteer/
Let’s Talk Loneliness
To find out more about Loneliness Awareness Week and how you can get involved, please see the link below:
https://letstalkloneliness.co.uk/get-involved-in-loneliness-awareness-week-2021/