Become a Christmas call companion
Christmas call companions is a telephone befriending service specifically designed for older people who are feeling lonely or in need of companionship over the festive period.
As a Christmas call companion, you’ll make regular telephone calls to an older person experiencing loneliness or isolation throughout the month of December. These friendly chats provide a lifeline of friendship for older people and a vital link with the outside world from which they’ve become isolated.
To become a Christmas call companion you’ll need to:
- Attend a 30-minute online volunteer group induction
- Complete an ID check
- Provide a reference
- Complete online volunteer training modules
Tasks include:
- Calling the older person you’ve been matched with for approximately 30 minutes either weekly or fortnightly at an agreed time throughout December
- Following the guidance in the online volunteer training so that your Christmas call companion calls are enjoyable, appropriate and in line with our charitable aims
- Keeping in regular contact with Re-engage and reporting any concerns to the team
- Keeping your knowledge and training up to date by reading our monthly volunteer newsletter – Re-engage Matters
Could you be our next Christmas call companion?
- This is a short term, flexible, homebased voluntary role that can easily fit around your own lifestyle and availability
- You must be at least 18 years old to become a Re-engage volunteer
- To keep our services free for older people, we aren’t able to pay expenses for this role
This is a fun, flexible and rewarding role which will enable you to connect with, and make a real and lasting difference to, the life of an older person who is experiencing social isolation or loneliness during what can be an incredibly difficult time of year.
As a valued Re-engage volunteer you’ll receive training, support and regular updates and communication from the Re-engage team.
People who have:
- A friendly nature
- Good listening skills
- Good conversation skills
- Patience and understanding
- A desire to improving the lives of lonely and isolated older people
- Basic computer skills (our inductions, checks and training are all online and our charity is paperless)
If this sounds like you, then we’d love to hear from you. Apply to be a Christmas call companion today by completing our online application form.