Volunteering role

We’re looking for new Wellbeing Befriending Volunteers to provide companionship and connection to people experiencing loneliness and social isolation. Your understanding might come from your own lived experience, supporting a friend or family member, caring for someone, your work or previous volunteering.

This is a befriending role, not a mental health support role. You won’t be expected to provide counselling, mental health advice or clinical support, or to manage the person’s mental health. Instead, you’ll use your understanding, empathy and life experience to build a positive, supportive and meaningful social connection.

Together Co are Brighton and Hove’s loneliness charity, creating connections to change lives for over 25 years. We do this through our award-winning befriending, social prescribing, and a range of volunteering programmes.

What is Befriending?

Befriending can be diverse in its delivery but shares a common goal of enabling meaningful connections. This connection can be between people with shared or different life experiences. At Together Co, we offer befriending to people in person, over the telephone or via our monthly social groups.

Befriending offers supportive, reliable, and mutually rewarding relationships with volunteer befrienders to people who would otherwise be socially isolated.

A bit about the role…

We take great care to match volunteers with people they are going to get on with, and we hope that the benefits are two-way. Typically, a volunteer will spend 30-60 minutes each week/fortnight with the person they befriend. This could be in person or over the phone, visiting them at home, or maybe going for a walk or a coffee.

The main thing that our volunteers do is provide people with friendly conversation and a listening ear.

Volunteering Activities

There is flexibility within this role for the volunteer and the person you befriend to decide together how you would like to spend your time together and as part of the sign up process, we will ask your preferences on how you would like to spend your time. Many of our matches meet up weekly or fortnightly and this can be visiting someone in their home or getting out for a coffee or walk in the local community.

Training

As part of Together Co’s volunteer community, you will receive ongoing training and support.

All volunteers receive a welcome induction and training session that covers key areas including; Health & Safety, Safeguarding, Professional Boundaries and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The session is also a great opportunity for you to ask questions and find out more about volunteering with Together Co in general.

Alongside your induction, you will be provided with other training opportunities to support your role.

**Together Co has various training opportunities for Volunteer Befrienders depending on your experience or the needs of the person you are matched with. For example if you’re matched with someone who has dementia, we are able to offer further training around understanding dementia. Other opportunities include Mental Health First Aid, Fall prevention and more.

Additional Paperwork Required: (e.g. Drivers license/ DBS/ Risk Assessments)
The role of a befriender requires an enhanced DBS check

Support

Throughout your volunteering you will have a named colleague who will be your main point of contact at Together Co, you will have regular check ins with them, there is also the opportunity to connect you with fellow volunteers who can share their experience and expertise with you. You will also have access to the Volunteer Experience Lead, who will be an additional point of contact to support your volunteering journey.

Together Co organises a variety of social events throughout the year to connect with volunteers, give thanks for your time and also to provide an opportunity to meet with other volunteers.