Loneliness Awareness Week 2020

Loneliness Awareness Week is 15-19 June 2020. The aim is to raise awareness and encourage more people to speak about it. 

Published: 19/06/2020

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Our remote befriending programme was set up in March 2020 to support residents who may have been lonely while self-isolating due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Peabody's remote befriending programme 

Since the programme started:

• we have taken over 300 resident referrals from the Tenant and Family Support Team (TFST)
• made 104 befriending matches and have endeavoured to get the best pairings by taking short bios from our befriendees
• 32 befrienders are Peabody staff, with the very first befriender being a member of the Board of Directors
• around 150 tenants have been referred to the TFST with additional concerns which have helped us to monitor and support residents most in need during the lockdown
• 82% befriender satisfaction rate for May and June  
   

Supporting others

None of this would be possible without our wonderful team of befrienders who signed up to support others through this crisis. Here are what some of our volunteers had to say about their experience:    

"I really like my befriendee and enjoy being helpful. She had a problem with her entryphone door system and asked me to follow it up, which I did.

 She then followed it up herself the next morning and her repair was done that day. I think this is a worthwhile programme and it’s nice to have the professional backing of Peabody behind it" says Julie.           

 "So far so good with my befriending! I’ve been trying to keep constant communication with my befriendee over the weeks. We usually have short conversations, so I decided to call her more than once a week.  

 A few weeks ago my befriendee  told me she was facing some challenging situations, so I reported this back to the programme leaders and we’ve been able to support her almost immediately. I like the idea of supporting someone who might face a challenging situation during this surreal period.

I have the feeling that my befriendee is supported by her family as well, which I believe is massively helpful” says Andrea.