A woman has took to TikTok to talk about Age UK’s telephone friendship service and her experience and why more people should do it and how people can sign up to volunteer themselves
Age UK have launched a friendly new service in a bid to tackle loneliness among the elderly. Their telephone friendship service assigns volunteers with an elderly person in need, based on common interests. On TikTok user who tried out the service shared her experience and encouraged other youngsters to do the same.
“Every single week I speak to somebody using Age UK’s telephone friendship service. I had absolutely no idea about this until I found it on TikTok and I knew that it was something that would be right down my street,” Jade (@getfitwjade) told her followers.
Jade explained how the “service is completely free” and the only thing you would need to do is “dedicate half an hour of your time every single week to speak to your telephone friend.” The person would be over 50, “feeling lonely, might be bored and also might not have very many family or friends.”
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“You get assigned to an older person, and it’s based on your interests and their interests, and you basically have a half an hour chat every week, find out what they’re doing, what they’ve been doing in the week, get to find out more about their life. It’s really rewarding having someone to speak to, and hopefully it makes such a big difference to their life as well,” Jade explained.
She said it’s the “best thing [she’s] ever done” and how good she feels after speaking to her telephone friend. You can send pictures and write letters to each other as well. Jade said if anyone wants to become a volunteer she urges them to sign up on Age UK’s website.
Jade’s review led to positive comments about the service. One commented: “3 years of talking to my Age UK friend. I enjoy it as much as she does”. Another said: “I work in an NHS older adult mental health team and I had no idea bout this!! Incredible. I need to make sure everyone knows about this.”
Age UK state that in order to volunteer, you must be over 18 years old and able to give 30 minutes of dedicated time a week to chat with your telephone friend.
To sign up, you must fill out an application which involves completing references, online training, passing an ID check and an interview with Age UK’s team. They then look at your interests and make sure to find a suitable match with an older person. Age UK will finally connect you with your telephone friend and your weekly calls begin.
As well as being respectful, patient, understanding and being a good listener, the following expectations as a volunteer are as follows:
- Dedicate a 30-minute call on the same day and time every week
- Commit to your volunteer role for a minimum of 12 months
- Agree to their volunteer terms and conditions
- Let Age UK know if you or your telephone friend need any additional support from them
Age UK will provide a handbook for volunteers to prepare you well for the role, and your privacy and safety is upheld as no personal details are shared and they connect the calls automatically.
A volunteer shared on Age UK’s website: “What an amazing service this really is” and how they got emotional as it hit them “that there are people out there that just want the extra company.”
Both the volunteer and their telephone friend had a lot in common and the volunteer shares how they are “looking forward to getting to know their telephone friend” even more. The service makes not only a difference in the elderly but also the volunteer’s lives.
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