Friendship Call Participant – Louise

Louise was referred to us back in June 2021. When she was assessed, she was in a really dark place, she had been estranged from her son, her daughter had long covid, and relations were strained. She told me about her marriage and the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her ex-husband. Her oral was extremely low and she struggled to engage in conversation as she did not trust anyone, she had also recently lost her dad, to whom she was very close. She was extremely lonely and socially isolated. There had been some suicide attempts as well. She was also waiting for a knee operation and had to lose weight to enable this to go ahead. Louise was placed with the same two volunteers and her confidence really started to increase.

When Connex was mentioned to her, and it was established that she was also a council tenant, she was invited to attend our first Tenant Voice coffee morning. It was dubious whether she was actually come along. However, on the day, she did, she arrived at the venue and just stood in the doorway extremely frightened.

She was met by Jane and made to feel welcome, Mary, our chair also spend time talking with her and she really opened up to us both. After the event, she was then contacted by Jane to see if she was okay and that she had enjoyed the morning, she could not thank me enough and advised that she would really love to come along to the buffet lunch. I am happy to say that she did come along, and thoroughly enjoyed herself and spent the afternoon talking with other volunteers and staff and again, on leaving, was so proud of what she had achieved, and said how this was now making a massive difference to her life, as she now has something to really look forward to. She is continuing to receive her calls and will continue to attend our events.

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