Overview

Our Home Visiting Befriending Scheme was set up to help alleviate some of the isolation that may be caused by visual impairment, for example in a situation where someone has very little contact with friends and family.

A Befriender helps in many different ways such as visiting and having a cup of tea & a chat, agreed shopping or outings together, or more practical help with reading mail or the newspaper. Many of our volunteers and service users build up a very good, long term, trusting relationship.

Our Head Office is located at: 2A Wentworth House, 1 Vernongate, Derby, DE1 1UR.

Our opening times are from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday.

What you will do: Provide a befriending relationship to visually impaired people. Support our service users with tasks such as reading, guided walking, shopping together, and general socialising especially to those who are isolated and have no company or support.

Skills you will need to have: Good clear communication skills.

Be able to complete a monthly report on the progress of the visit. The use of a car would be advantageous although not essential.

Training and Support: We will give you visual impairment training and role specific training of the tasks involved. A member of staff will give you support throughout your training and will contact you on a regular basis to see how things are going.

Expenses: We will reimburse your out of pocket expenses in line with our expenses policy.

Before you start: You will need to provide us with the names of two people who can give us a reference for you. There will also be a DBS check.