Author: Laura

Mia was referred to us back in November from one of the housing coordinators. Mia suffers with bipolar, poor physical health and various other mental illnesses. Mia was very reluctant to become part of the service at first until she was paired with a young volunteer. It was during this week that I had cause to have to ring Mia and after asking her how she feels about the service this is what she had to say, and she also states that she would be very willing to talk to anybody about what the calls mean to her,

‘These calls have changed my life, the volunteer goes over and above what is required of her and even called me over the Christmas period and on Christmas day. This meant so much to me as I was on my own. She has literally turned my life around and even though I do suffer with bipolar I find that the calls ease me when I am in a depressive mood and really life me up. I cannot wait to get the call every week and I cannot thank you enough for giving me my volunteer, as I said it has changed my life and I now feel a lot more optimistic than I have ever done, so that you Rotherfed and that you to the volunteer, you just keep up the good work’

Emily came to us as a referral in October. She had been through very difficult times. She had recently lost her partner who had been abusive and had to come to terms with a lot of things. This abuse had also had in impact on her relationship with her family and despite only being in her early 60’s found herself very much alone. In November we had a new student come on board from Leeds Beckett University who from the first call found she got on really well with Emily and requested that she phones Emily every week as part of her call rota. This relationship had developed and in between Christmas and New Year, the volunteer took it upon herself to call Emily during this period even though she did not need to do so. I contacted Emily this week, and her report back to me on how the calls from the volunteer were going, was very emotional. She advised that this is the one thing that is constant in her life and knowing that she gets a phone call every week keeps her going and gives her something to look forward to. She informed me that she has found that her anxiety and depression has decreased, and she now feels optimistic for the future and could not thank me enough for her very valued calls.

Allison is a young volunteer 20 who wants to build experience as she would like to progress her career to become a counsellor in the future.

Claudia, 88 was paired with Allison and they have conversations every week, anything from 20 mins to 45 mins. Claudia does like to keep herself busy, but other than her career and she doesn’t really talk to many others at the moment. They talk in general about all sorts of things especially about how Claudia loves to knit and how she is progressing at this. She is also making plans for her garden in the summer. Claudia looks forward to her chats with Allison each week. A true cross generational friendship.

Craig came to us as a very nervous man who suffers with anxiety and depression. Craig receives weekly calls from a staff member. The calls are usually about 20 minutes in length but over the course of the calls a trust has been formed. Craig likes the calls to be around the same time each week which has been arranged. Although he still has his up and down weeks, through the conversations he is having he can set little goals each week, the latest was for him to book his Covid jab, he was extremely anxious about it. When I spoke to him this week, he had not only booked himself in, but had been and had it done. He realised it wasn’t so bad and is now so much less anxious about going for his second one.
Although Craig may never go over to a volunteer, he is receiving the calls and this is certainly helping him on a weekly basis.