Could you be a volunteer Farleigh Helper?

Michelle von Kimmelmann, Volunteer Manager and Deborah Durno, Volunteer Co-ordinator.

If you are ill, lonely, isolated, bereaved or just in need of someone to talk to, our friendly Farleigh Helpers are here for you. You don’t need to have a connection to Farleigh Hospice to use this service – click here to find out more or to submit a referral for yourself or someone you know.

The Farleigh Helpers service was established in 2021 thanks to funding awarded by Provide Foundation, which is managed by Essex Community Foundation.

The service recently celebrated its first successful year and we are very grateful to our fantastic volunteer Helpers who give their time to provide this valued support to their local community.

We are now looking to recruit more volunteer Farleigh Helpers so we can expand this service. If you are a good listener and feel confident talking on the telephone, have good computer skills and have time to spare each week, please contact us. Call the Volunteer Services team on 01245 933735, email volunteer@farleighhospice.org or click here to apply.

We asked one of our volunteer Helpers to tell us about his befriending role and why he finds it so fulfilling…

“I’ve been a volunteer Farleigh Helper since September 2021 when the service first launched. It is a fantastic initiative that makes a big difference to the people that we support.

I used to work for a defence company as a contracts manager before I retired six years ago, so I’m used to meeting new people and talking to customers over the phone. I like to keep busy so I’ve been doing some volunteering during the pandemic in a similar role, talking to people who were feeling isolated which I really enjoyed.

Some of my friends have been cared for by Farleigh and so I’ve supported the charity for a while, taking part in Walk for Life and the Santa Fun Run as well as helping out at fundraising events. When you’ve seen first-hand what a difference Farleigh makes, you know how marvellous it is and you’re happy to help.

When a friend at Farleigh Hospice told me about the new Farleigh Helpers service, I was keen to be part of it. I applied to be a volunteer, had an interview and was very happy to be accepted.

You don’t need to be retired or have work experience like mine to apply – the other volunteer Helpers are all ages and come from different backgrounds. But it is important to be a good listener and to be able to communicate well over the telephone.

The service is very professionally run. Farleigh Helpers are fully supported from the start and you go through a comprehensive training programme before you begin talking to the public. This includes mental health awareness which is very useful, data protection and confidentiality as well as computer and database skills. You also do practice phone calls to build up your confidence so you feel prepared and service users are screened by the Farleigh admin team before they are matched to you.

I volunteer for 4 hours a week, making a maximum of 5 telephone calls, each no more than 20 minutes long.

Farleigh Helpers is a befriending service, so I offer a friendly listening ear and supportive conversation to the service users that I regularly talk to. I call them and we chat about things that they find useful. It’s not a counselling service but I can signpost them to further help if they need it.

I find that they gradually open up to me as I talk to them each week which is very rewarding. They are pleased when I call and seem to look forward to it, so I can see the difference that the Farleigh Helpers service makes.

It’s extremely well managed – the Farleigh team are there to help me and give guidance. We have regular reflection sessions every six weeks, either face-to-face or online, where I can talk through any issues with other Helpers. I find them very useful as we can bounce ideas off each other.

The admin team also call up the service users to find out what they think of the service. I know that we get good feedback which shows that Farleigh Helpers is really benefitting the people we support.

I would encourage anyone who is a good listener and has some time to spare each week to consider volunteering for the Farleigh Helper service.

Being a Farleigh Helper is definitely for me and I thoroughly enjoy it. I get a lot from volunteering for such a professional and caring charity and I’m giving something back to the community. I have a real sense of achievement and it’s rewarding, knowing that I’m making a difference.”