A very big thank you to our amazing team of volunteers who have given so much during difficult circumstances this year. We wouldn’t be able to deliver our services without you.
Over the past year, our team of 36 Social Prescribing volunteers has provided support for service users in over 250 sessions.
In addition to this, our Volunteer Telephone Befrienders are currently providing regular calls for 34 beneficiaries. These regular conversations have made a big difference for the recipients, helping them to feel less isolated whilst often facing particularly challenging circumstances.
Here is an example of the dedication of our volunteers to the work which they do.
Service user K was living in emergency temporary accommodation and was not registered with a local dental practice. She had been experiencing a lot of pain and considerable bleeding from a tooth for over a week. Our Volunteer Linguist made extensive enquiries, trying to help Service User K to register with a local dental surgery to access an appointment. However, there was not a local surgery at the time which was accepting new patients, in part due to the ongoing Covid restrictions during the pandemic.
The Volunteer Linguist then pursued an emergency appointment with an out of hours dental service for NHS patients. She called around 50 times to be able to eventually 
get through to the service and arrange the appointment. A SIS Interpreter was booked through our emergency interpreting service and Service User K’s dental condition was treated successfully.
Service User K said ” The volunteer did such a good job – she was so conscientious and professional. I thank her from the bottom of my heart.”
