Community Befriending - Sevenoaks and Tonbridge
- Location: Tonbridge Office
- Price: Free
Email: Befriending@ageukmst.org.uk
Telephone: 01732 454108
Our FREE Community Befriending service is available to older people living in Sevenoaks & Tonbridge, but this is a service which is available dependent on staff and volunteer capacity.
When volunteer support is unavailable, we encourage people to consider accessing our Independent Living Support (ILS) service which can provide befriending as a part of its paid offering. More details can be found at the bottom of this page.
About the service we offer?
Loneliness and isolation can have big impact on the health and welbeing of older people. Age UK Sevenoaks and Tonbridge provides a Community Befriending service to help tackle the causes of isolation and loneliness.
The service aims to enable older people to:
• Overcome the barriers of isolation & loneliness
• Share the company of others
• Talk to someone
• Pursue interests & activities in the local community
• Maintain independence and gain information & enable clients to stay at home longer
Who is the service for?
Mainly for people aged 65 or over living in the Sevenoaks and Tonbridge area who have become housebound or detached from community life through bereavement, moving house, disability, mental illness, etc.
Who will refer?
The person needing help, their relatives, carers, health or social service professionals, GP, etc. Referral is to Age UK Sevenoaks and Tonbridge.
What happens next?
The befriending coordinator will nominate a befriending volunteer to contact the person needing help.
Volunteers may be able to visit people in the immediate area of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. We may arrange telephone befriending for people further afield.
All volunteers are DBS checked.
Contact
For further details or to make a referral contact:
Age UK Tonbridge Office Phone 01732 454108 or Email: befriending@ageukmst.org.uk
Make a referral into our Community Befriending Service.
Want to access support through our ILS service instead?
Our ILS Service offers paid-for support in a variety of areas, including but not limited to:
• Light Domestic Cleaning
• Laundry
• Ironing
• Changing bedding
• Shopping
• Dealing with correspondence
Befriending is also often included as a part of this service - with our staff naturally forming a relationship which is socially supportive with the clients we visit.