Can you make a weekly in-person visit to an older person at risk of isolation, supporting them to connect with their local community? This project matches volunteer befrienders with older people in the community in need of support going out. We ask that volunteers make a commitment to how often they will visit and participate in periodic supervision and support sessions.

About Age UK Bristol: 

At Age UK Bristol we help make sure that everyone in Bristol can love later life. We do this by supporting and empowering older people, helping other organisations to work together, and championing the interests of older people in the city.

Our organisational objectives are to:

• Provide top-quality services and support to all older people in Bristol.
• Lead and enable collaboration between other organisations working with older people in Bristol
• Influence public spending and policies in a way that benefits older people in the city
• Promote positive attitudes to ageing in Bristol

We do this by:

• Providing quality information
• Delivering quality services
• Involving older people
• Giving older people a voice
• Working in partnership
• Maintaining an effective organisation

Volunteers are important and valued members of the team at Age UK Bristol. We will do our best to make your volunteer experience enjoyable and rewarding.

Buddy Up Befriending aims to:

• Help people who are feeling isolated and have lost confidence
• Help people to regain and keep their independence
• Help people to link into their local community, find out what’s going on and how to get involved
• Keep an eye on ‘risks’ as the needs of people change

This role is carried out in-person (not over the phone).

You will

• Make a visit/meet up with one or two befriendees each week.
• Encourage them to take part in community activities, for example by accompanying them to an activity.
• Let Age UK Bristol know if you have any concerns or worries about someone you are befriending
• Signpost people you are befriending to local activities and opportunities (we will give you information about what’s going on in Bristol)
• Keep a record of your visits/meet ups.
• Come along to training sessions and volunteer meetings wherever possible – these are currently mainly held on zoom or on the phone.

We are looking for people who:

• Are non-judgemental
• Have good communication skills
• Are patient and tactful
• Are reliable
• Understand confidentiality
• Understand the varied needs and aspirations of older people
• Are able to tolerate possible situations of deprivation
• Can maintain boundaries around levels of involvement
• Are able to manage one or two visits per week.

Training

We offer an introduction training and follow up support sessions

Suggested Hours

In-person visits/meet ups may last for around an hour, times to be agreed between befriender and befriendee. A monthly one-to-one supervision session is held with the project’s manager.

We also encourage volunteers to take part in a group support session every 6 weeks - 2 months.

** Please note that to ensure support from paid staff is always available, all volunteer roles are carried out Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.**

Location

In-person visits are carried out in your befriendee’s home or in a public setting such as a café or local activity.

Expenses

We have a number of options regarding covering the cost of the telephone calls which we can discuss. You will not be out of pocket as a result of your volunteering.

Next steps

For further questions, please contact Age UK Bristol’s volunteer co-ordinator, Jay Wilkinson. To apply for the role, please fill in and return a Volunteer Application Form via email to Jay.

• E-mail: jaywilkinson@ageukbristol.org.uk