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Paul was originally referred to the friendship calls by the council in April 2020 and was the first call recipient. Paul used to work down the Rawmarsh pit and enjoys fishing, watching TV, especially history programmes. He started isolating in the first lockdown and found this very difficult to deal with. He was paired with his first volunteer in May 2020 and had received calls from a number of different volunteers during the first months. In July, he was permanently paired with his current volunteer Tony, and they have really built up a close friendship and are still talking to each other weekly today. This is what Paul had to say;

‘I could not have got through this pandemic without the calls that I receive every week, it really gives me something to look forward to and break up the loneliness in the week, thanks to Tony and RotherFed for this – you have no idea what it means to me’.

Lily was referred to us by the council in April 2020 during the first lockdown. Lily lived with her husband Peter and suffered from anxiety and depression. Lily also had some clinical issues and problems with her heart. Lily was placed with our board member Mary who has continued to support Lily throughout her time on the friendship calls and a very special relation had built up between them. Sadly, Lily had recently passed away, however Mary spoke with her husband Peter, and as Peter and Lily had been married for over 60 years, Peter found life very lonely, and Mary offered to continue to call Peter going forward. This was agreed and Peter will now receive regular calls from Mary during his time of bereavement and for however long he needs the calls.

Rachel was originally referred to RotherFed for friendship calls by Rotherham Council in July 2020. Despite numerous attempts to engage with her, this was unsuccessful, and she was closed to the service. In August 2020 Rachel was re-referred for the friendship calls and again would not engage. When she was referred for the second time, it was established from the referrer that Rachel would not engage at all with any services in Rotherham and that this was an ongoing issue. She had not taken her meds, and had been discharged from mental health and counselling due to non attendance for meetings and appointments.

When Jane started with RotherFed, she picked up Rachel’s case, and started to call her at the end of September 2020. At first, Rachel would not engage as she did not trust any services as she felt ‘let down’ due to consistent staff changes etc. This was down to not taking her meds which helped with her anxieties, she self-harmed, had suicidal thoughts and suffered with the results of abuse and Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder.

As time went on, her confidence started to grow as Jane was consistent in her calls using a set time every week so that Rachel knew that she would no longer be let down. Over the months, a strong relationship ship of trust was forged.

Rachel started to engage again with services, and paid for her own private counselling, Although Rachel will not go out on her own for social purposes, she did catch a train to Leeds and Sheffield for medical appointments as this is something that she did have to do. This was extremely stressful, and she did need a lot of support prior. But she did manage to do it. She also enrolled on a mental health course, which she has now nearly finished.

When Connex was started in September 2021, Jane asked Rachel if she would like to attend a coffee morning. Rachel declined as her confidence was not yet at a level of being able to go out in a social situation. From September until November, this confidence was worked on and in December 2021, Rachel attended her first social outing in many years. Although this was extremely difficult for her, and it took a lot of gentle persuasion, she managed it and post event discussions have now highlighted that this is something that Rachel would regularly like to do. In time, the aim is to support Rachel to attend events on her own, but this in itself is a massive step forward for Rachel and has now given her hope for the future.

Verity is an elderly tenant who has been receiving friendship calls for over 12 months. A lively character who loves social interaction. Covid has left her isolated and in desperate need of company. Connex has enabled her to get back out into the community, she has attended a tenant voice buffet lunch event where she had a great time and is looking forward to future events. During the event she was confident to speak with housing staff about issues she has and these are being looked into. Verity was referred to Energy Know How and Money Management and has received follow up appointments, she is over the moon with both services. Verity recently took part in some filming with Voluntary Action Rotherham. It is early days, but the Connex interventions have already made a massive difference to Verity’s mental health and general wellbeing.

Sandra is an amazing volunteer with the project. She started during the pandemic and continues to make calls. Even though her priorities and other commitments have changed and her social options have opened up again, this is the one piece of volunteering she is keen to continue with.

When she first started with us Sandra was just keen to do something. Sandra loves being involved and says that this is such a valuable, rewarding, piece of work that she simply couldn’t give it up and will find ways to ensure she can always fit the calls in.

She makes 2 calls a week to 2 regulars and has built up such a rapport with the ladies that means sometimes she is on the phone for over an hour with each lady! Sandra will always volunteer to do extra training and has undertaken the 2 day Mental Health First Aid Course.

Lucy was a self-referral into the service from the crisis team in July. Lucy had severe depression, due to previous abuse. Lucy lost her father and her mother is terminally ill and she is receiving abuse counselling. When I (Jane) made phone calls to Lucy, she was always tearful on the phone and it was evident that she was not coping well. I managed to stabilise her a bit and she was then transferred over to one of our volunteers. The report back from the volunteer was concerning as Lucy seemed to be going back and forth between a very tearful state to very infrequent good days. Both the volunteer and I continued to call her regularly – and here are some of the report backs from the volunteer over the last couple of week.

Lucy continues to be bright in mood and is motivated to change her life. She spoke about having been out with her eldest daughter and her granddaughter. She talked a little about the death of her mother and how this has impacted upon her life however, it is evident that she is now coming to terms with her bereavement and moving forward. When I called she had been getting ready to go out with her daughter so we cut our chat short to enable her to carry on with her plans. I have arranged to call her again early next week.

We only a brief chat as she was out walking around the Manvers Lake with her daughter and the dog. Lucy said she was feeling okay asked if I could contact her later this afternoon. I rang Lucy late afternoon she said how much she had enjoyed being out with her daughter today and that they had planned to visit the area again. Lucy chatted about things she had done in the last week had been putting some more new furniture together and that this had been keeping her mind occupied and distracted her from negative thoughts. We talked about the light show at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park that I am due to visit. Lucy was going to pass on details to her daughter as she felt she might like to visit the park. Lucy has requested further contact next week unable to set a firm date as she had not yet made any plans of her own.