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 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 within Focus Birmingham

Skills and Experience

- Trustworthy, reliable, friendly and sociable
- Willingness to commit to regularly calling a service user with a visual impairment
- Ability and willingness t 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
Telephone Befriender Volunteer role

Commitment level

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 both and the service user.

Minimum commitment of 12 moths, 3 hours minimum per week.

Training

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

Further Information

For more information about this role, or if you would like to apply for this role, please contact the Volunteer Co-ordinator on 0773473408/0121 295 8802, or by email [email protected].