Steep climb in referrals for befriending charity
60% increase year-on-year in Inverness & Nairn
Befrienders Highland Ltd (BHL) has announced that loneliness and isolation are sadly on the increase in the Inverness and Nairn areas. In the past 12 months BHL co-ordinators have had over a 60% increase in the numbers of people who are referred for 1-to-1 supported volunteer befriending because of the loneliness created as a result of their mental illness. They have been battling to recruit and train enough volunteers to match in friendship with those referred and are urgently needing the help of local communities if this situation is to be resolved. Befrienders Highland has been providing 1-to-1 supported volunteer befriending services across Inverness and Nairn for many years. These powerful friendships, offered through face to face social meetings (Inverness and Nairn) or by phone, letter and email, have been a lifeline for over 650 people who have benefited from the regular weekly social contact. Co-ordinator Alan Duncan, “We have a team of amazing volunteers whose friendship successfully helps to increase people’s self-confidence and helps them to once again feel valued members of their local communities and to feel they once again belong and have something worthwhile to offer. Over the years we have seen incredible transformations in people simply because of the power of friendship offered by our volunteers. The effects of friendship can never be underestimated”.