For Mental Health
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Befriending Scheme For Mental Health |
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| Initial Training and Your First Client
We take on new befrienders twice a year and this begins with a six week training course. This training involves coming to the Hawthorn Centre one night a week for 2-3 hours. During this time you will be with a group of people all in the same boat - all new to this, and all wondering what they've let themselves in for! But worry no more - this is really rewarding volunteer work. You will get as much out of it as the clients do! After this initial training is complete, you will have to undergo an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. If you've got no skeletons in your closet you've no need to worry! You are now ready to meet your first client. Our Scheme Manager, Sandra, meets all prospective clients and discusses their needs with them and matches them up to a suitable befriender. Sandra will then set up an initial meeting involving herself, the befriender and the client. Sandra will also do a Health and Safety assessment of the situation you will be in to ensure the safety of both you and your client. If all goes smoothly you will now be a fully fledged befriender with a client. Continuing Training We have our Volunteer Support Group Meetings on the second Monday of every month at 7.30pm. However, we do not meet in July or August as this can be difficult for our volunteers because of holidays. We also change our December meeting to a Christmas Social and enjoy ourselves and let our hair down! As well our Volunteer Support Group Meetings we also have some Lunchtime Drop-Ins. These are useful for people who find it difficult for people to attend the evening meetings because of family or other commitments. Volunteer Support Group Meetings Our Volunteer Support Group Meetings involve different aspects of training, from talking to other befrienders to informative talks from speakers. In the past our speakers have included the Dyslexia Association, Rachel Studley, PALS, LAMP, our Scheme Patron who is also our local MP David Taylor and the Samaritans. The talks give a lot of useful information and often help our befrienders to piece together another piece of the jigsaw with their client or will give them a useful contact they can pass onto their client to give their client another route to explore. Some of our meetings will have no speaker. This gives our befrienders a chance to discuss things with each other, raise problems and discuss any problems with Sandra, the Scheme Manager. We will also do further training at some of these meetings. This training can be to update skills already learnt and in use, to add new skills and to keep up-to-date with the changing face of the mental health service. Lunchtime Meetings Our Lunchtime Drop-Ins are more informal than our evening meetings, but still play a big role in the continuing support of our befrienders. However, we do not have any speakers at these meetings and no specific training. These sessions are for our befrienders to get together and support each other. There is also the opportunity to raise and problems with Sandra, the Scheme Manager. It is up to the individual befriender whether they want or are able to attend our Volunteer Support Group Meetings and Lunchtime Drop-Ins. However, the befrienders who do attend these meetings, either regularly or when they are able to, do find them useful. On-Going Support Befrienders never need to feel like they are alone. Sandra, Debbie and Linda are often in the office and will take your call. If they are unable to help, they will find someone who can! All befrienders are also given a list of contact telephone numbers for emergencies. These include a mobile number for Sandra as well as some contact numbers within the emergency mental health field. Confidentiality The confidentiality of befrienders is paramount to us. Clients of the scheme will NEVER be given any contact details for the befrienders, if they need to cancel or rearrange their befrienders visit, they must contact the office to do this. Equally, befrienders should never give their contact details our to their clients and if they need to phone them should put 141 infront of the phone number. Equally important to us is our clients confidentiality. They need to know that they are free to talk to their befriender within the knowledge that everything they say will be kept confidential. The content of what is discuss on visits does not need to be discussed even with people at the scheme. But, as with anything, their are exceptions to the rule! Exceptions To The Confidentiality Rule
In the event of one of the above situations happening, you should contact Sandra, the Scheme Manager, immediately. If she is not available then either dial 999 or, if more appropriate, use one of the other contacts on the contacts card. |