Eastbourne

We'd love you to be part of our Team and help support older persons in East Sussex. As a permanent Befriender Volunteer, you will be making sure that older people can access the services they require and making the County a great place to grow old. You will also meet new people, via phone, and occasionally in person (if you want to and its relevant). You will be part of a great team of volunteers. You'll love to speak to people and have a caring and empathetic nature as you will be phoning older people for a chat to identify their service requirements. We will provide you with support, the required training and reimburse your telephone expenses. You will need you own phone (we can show you how to hide your number) and ideally, internet access. The hours for this role are flexible and you can work from the comfort of your own home. Its so easy to start volunteering with us. This role requires you to be aged 18+. Please note that this is an unpaid volunteer opportunity, UK-based, specifically for UK volunteers.

Purpose of role: To join a team of volunteers providing our ‘Carers in Touch’ service, a telephone listening service for unpaid carers who have been identified as at risk of being socially isolated. The service provides an informal, friendly chat with carers to help them keep connected, remind them they are not alone, support their wellbeing and check they have suitable support systems in place. What will you be doing? • Making telephone calls to unpaid carers of up to 30 minutes in length. • Providing a ‘listening ear’ and friendly voice. • Signposting carers to the Care for the Carers Hub if extra support is needed. • Inputting the call information onto Care for the Carers database. • Deliver at least one 2 hour shift per week Monday to Thursday 9am to 3pm. What skills, experience, qualities do you need? • Empathetic, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory approach. • Good communication skills; able to chat with people on the phone. • Reliability and commitment. • Basic IT skills (training will be provided). • A commitment to the vision and mission of Care for the Carers. • A desire to support unpaid carers.