Could you give a few hours a week to make a telephone call to someone in the community who has a visual impairment? Can you help be less isolated by becoming a Telephone Befriender and calling a person with sight loss at home? you should have a good understanding of sight loss and supporting people to be more independent.

Social isolation and loneliness can greatly affect people with sight loss as they can lose confidence and independence. Telephone Befriender Volunteer at Focus Birmingham can help support people with sight loss to overcome feelings of isolation by providing them with regular telephone chats. The aim is to build relationships where people with sight loss are given the opportunity to share their feelings and speak about what they are given the opportunity to share their feeling and speak about what they are going through in a confidential and non judgemental atmosphere.

Tasks:
- Befriending someone over the telephone
- Making a weekly call for 30 minutes maximum to a service user
- Keeping accurate records of what was discussed during the call
- Promote the service

Skills and Experience:
- Trustworthy, reliable, friendly and sociable
- Willingness to commit to regularly calling a service user with a visual impairment
- Ability and willingness to record and submit logs which provide information and feedback about calls
- Taking part in team meetings and any regular training required for the role
- Take part in supervision and development to improve the effectiveness of the Telephone Befriender volunteer
role

Training:
- Focus Birmingham Core Training
- Telephone Befriender Training
- Peer Support and on-going training depending on the needs of the service

To build trust and a good rapport with the service user you are matched to, we ask that you can make a regular commitment to calling clients weekly. Preferably calls should be at the same time each week but the times and frequency of the calls can be flexible to suit you and the service user.

If you are interested in this role, please refer to the Focus Birmingham website for an application form (under volunteer page). For further information contact [email protected]