Befriending in Brighton and Hove, Worthing and Adur.

The charity was founded based on the voice of older people and continues to provide strong relationship-centred and person-centred support.

The charity seeks to provide a pro-active response to the needs of scheme members and volunteers including pioneering new intergenerational befriending practices.

Building on best practice, the charity undertook a quality assurance review of our work in 2019 which resulted in receiving an accreditation of ‘excellence’ for our intergenerational befriending model. The excellence accreditation was awarded in March 2020 by the national membership organisation, Befriending Networks.

The majority of our scheme members are aged 80+‍

However we accept referrals for anyone aged 65+ living in Brighton, Hove, Adur or Worthing in Sussex. We are motivated to support older people who are experiencing loneliness because they have limited existing social contacts with family and friends.

We offer face to face befriending and group befriending. Our assessments enable us to speak to older people about their preferences so we can help them choose the option which best suits their needs.

The matching process is personalised based on individual interests, hobbies and needs. We take a whole-team approach to matching our scheme members and volunteers which continues to prove to be a mutually rewarding experience. Scheme member reviews confirm that befriending helps people to ‘feel in the world again’, like they ‘have purpose’ and a ‘reason to live’. Volunteers also continue to find befriending ‘enriching’ and ‘rewarding’ ,

Don’t just take our word for it, here are a few comments from scheme members and volunteers themselves:

Reginald and Peter:

Anna and Mavis:

“Anna visits every Friday morning, and we always have plenty to talk about. Anna feels like a kindred spirit, she lifts me up and brightens my day It is especially lovely during school holidays and inset days when Anna brings her little girl along.”

The match has been beneficial for Anna too:

“I began volunteering when my daughter started school and I was not working Fridays. Meeting Mavis added a purpose to my free day. We are a perfect match — we both love theatre, we love colours and creative outfits, we enjoy laughing and the simple pleasures in life! I admire her crafting skills and could talk for hours about anything and everything. I moved to the UK from Poland with my husband, and we don’t have any relatives in the UK, so connecting with Mavis and getting to know someone older has been wonderful. Thank you to Time to Talk Befriending for finding Mavis and putting her on my life path.”

Befriending Charlotte, by Harriet aged 33 years:

“Whenever I’m asked what it’s like to be part of Time to Talk Befriending, I always want to get across that it is hugely rewarding to be “part of the solution to loneliness and making an impact on someone’s life”. However, personally I don’t feel like I’m giving up anything to spend time with Charlotte who I have been visiting for 3 years now, or that its even a charitable thing! The duality of the benefits to the be-friendship is just as important in my life as it is for Charlotte. There is something underrated about simply making time to sit and have a face to face chat, no technology, no mutual gossip but a connection stripped back to basics of wanting to have a real and quality connection with another human being. I have a hunch that if we dug into why people volunteer for this scheme it would show that we (volunteers) are looking for company in just as much the same way as the members are.”

Scheme Member Margaret:

“It gets...you know lonely. One day rolls into the next. So speaking to my befriender is like a breath of fresh air. It's the highlight of my week. Time to talk to someone who cares, that's all you need!”

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