Overview of the role
- To explain the purpose of the phone calls and what to expect from your role.
- To support you in making effective phone calls.
- To explain the difficulties you may come across and how to approach them.
- To understand and be able to explain what your role as call companions involves.
- To understand how to make phone calls effectively and manage expectations.
- To know who to report problems and any issues you may have to.
- To be able to find answers to your questions on the website.
Being there for them
In many ways, the role of a call companion is just like chatting to a friend over the phone. However, the difference you can make to the older person is enormous so it’s worth making the most of each phone call.
What you need to get started
- A quiet undisturbed place to call from
- A friendly, listening ear
Before you get started
We want you to get as much out of volunteering as you can - and to really enjoy it.
Before you start volunteering, we will go through the details with you and make sure you know what to expect. Before you start volunteering with us, you will need to complete the online training on this page.
Making the most from the calls
Then, to make sure both of you get the most from the calls, you’ll also need:
- To agree with the older person you’re supporting, how often you will call, on which day / time and for how long
- The commitment to keep to the arrangement as closely as possible
- To focus your phone calls on getting to know the older person and supporting them to talk about whatever they want to.
In the first instance your phone calls should focus on getting to know the older person and supporting them to talk about whatever they want to.
Training 1: introduction
Telephone support is a rewarding and worthwhile service to offer. For a small amount of your free time per week, you can bring a real comfort to an older person who may be lonely, isolated, or sad.
Training 2: communicating and listening
Taking care to communicate with respect and really listen to the older person can make all the difference to them and have a positive effect on their lives.
Training 3: building relationships
It is important that the older person feels safe and able to talk to their call companion about their problems or about anything that’s troubling them.
Training 4: addressing difficulties
You may encounter some challenges in your call companion role. However, it’s important that you recognise you won’t always be able to respond to the older person the way you would in your personal relationships.
Training 5: reporting issues or concerns
One of the aspects of your role is to make sure that Re-engage knows about any issues or concerns that come up in your regular calls with older people.
Additional resources
Good practice guidelines
As a call companion, it’s important to remember that your role is not to give advice or make decisions for the older person. And you don‘t need to be able to solve all their problems. Understanding the scope of your role and not going beyond this is key.
By maintaining proper boundaries you’re making sure that you and the older person have the same expectations of the service. It also ensures the protection and safety of both parties. Your role is to provide company - you can support the older person to find their own solutions to their problems or signpost them to where they can find specialist help, advice or support.
To see Re-engage boundaries guidelines, please click on the following link:
As a call companion, it’s crucial that you don’t share any personal information about the older person you call with anyone outside Re-engage. And please respect their privacy and make sure you can‘t be overheard during your calls.
At the same time, it’s also important you protect yourself by not sharing your own personal information with them or adding them as a friend on social media.
We also recommend you make your phone number private when making your calls by following these instructions:
- To hide a number from a landline dial 141 and then the number
- From an Android device go to the ‘phone’, press the vertical 3 dots for a drop down menu and select ‘settings’, select ‘supplementary services’, select ‘showing caller ID’, click ‘hide my number’
- From an Apple device go to ‘settings’, select ‘phone’, select ‘show my caller ID’, slide the circle to the left to hide number and back to right (green) to show number.
To see the Re-engage GDPR guidelines, please click on the following link:
Over time, it’s likely you’ll get to know the older person you call very well and they may tell you some very personal details about their life. Please keep this information confidential unless they disclose something you feel worried about, particularly anything that could cause serious harm, either to themselves or others.
In this case you should follow our safeguarding process by completing an incident and concern form and talk to a member of the operational safeguarding team at Re-engage as soon as possible.
To see the Re-engage safeguarding policy, please click the following link: