Author: Laura

Mia was referred to us back in November from one of the housing coordinators. Mia suffers with bipolar, poor physical health and various other mental illnesses. Mia was very reluctant to become part of the service at first until she was paired with a young volunteer. It was during this week that I had cause to have to ring Mia and after asking her how she feels about the service this is what she had to say, and she also states that she would be very willing to talk to anybody about what the calls mean to her,

‘These calls have changed my life, the volunteer goes over and above what is required of her and even called me over the Christmas period and on Christmas day. This meant so much to me as I was on my own. She has literally turned my life around and even though I do suffer with bipolar I find that the calls ease me when I am in a depressive mood and really life me up. I cannot wait to get the call every week and I cannot thank you enough for giving me my volunteer, as I said it has changed my life and I now feel a lot more optimistic than I have ever done, so that you Rotherfed and that you to the volunteer, you just keep up the good work’

Emily came to us as a referral in October. She had been through very difficult times. She had recently lost her partner who had been abusive and had to come to terms with a lot of things. This abuse had also had in impact on her relationship with her family and despite only being in her early 60’s found herself very much alone. In November we had a new student come on board from Leeds Beckett University who from the first call found she got on really well with Emily and requested that she phones Emily every week as part of her call rota. This relationship had developed and in between Christmas and New Year, the volunteer took it upon herself to call Emily during this period even though she did not need to do so. I contacted Emily this week, and her report back to me on how the calls from the volunteer were going, was very emotional. She advised that this is the one thing that is constant in her life and knowing that she gets a phone call every week keeps her going and gives her something to look forward to. She informed me that she has found that her anxiety and depression has decreased, and she now feels optimistic for the future and could not thank me enough for her very valued calls.