- Volunteer befriending
- Helpline volunteers
Background
The Meningitis Research Foundation was set up in 1989 by a couple who lost their young son to the disease. The charity funds research to prevent meningitis and septicaemia*, and to improve survival rates and outcomes. It also promotes education and awareness to reduce death and disability, and give support to people affected directly or indirectly by the disease.
Volunteers carry out a number of roles for the Foundation. They assist in manning the 24 hour helpline, dealing with basic calls and referring more complex clinical calls to the experienced nursing staff. They also aid staff by helping on stands at events and some carry out awareness talks about the disease to nursery nurses, St John Ambulance crews, midwives and students. Although some volunteers are recruited through the members' quarterly newsletter, many people opt to volunteer, particularly as befrienders in order to ‘give something back' to the organisation.
The Befriending project began when the Foundation was set up and was funded by the Big Lottery Fund until June 2006. The fund carried out pilot studies before awarding the money and it was so popular with the Foundation's trustees that they agreed it should continue. It is hoped that post-June 2006 funding will still be in place for the training of befrienders.
*Meningitis means the swelling of the lining around the brain and spinal cord. Septicaemia is blood poisoning caused by the same germs. They can occur together or separately. Three thousand people annually will be affected in the UK and Ireland . One in ten will die and many others will be left with after effects which could be as severe as brain damage, deafness or amputation.
The Befriending Project
The purpose of the befriending project is to put people with similar experiences of meningitis and septicaemia in touch with each other.
There are 136 trained volunteer befrienders; some of whom have never befriended before and others who have not yet been called upon as their experience hasn't matched request requirements. Unlike some befriending schemes, geographical location isn't an issue for the befriender/befriendee relationship as befriending takes places over the phone and relationships are formed through shared experiences.
The minimum age for befrienders is 18 years old in order to avoid child protection issues and it is hoped that adults 18 years plus will be equipped with more life experience than those under 18 years.
To date 278 relationships have been set up. Initially anyone who wanted to participate in the scheme as a befriender could join, but now the befriender co-ordinator is looking more strategically at gaps between personal requests for befrienders and the experience that current volunteers can offer.
The majority of requests come from bereaved parents with more than one child and from people who have made self-recoveries, but the befriender co-ordinator has identified the need for befrienders to have experience of bereavement following the death of an only child, as currently a gap in this area of support has been highlighted.
The spectrum of requests is broad however, e.g., people who have had the disease and now suffer physical or neurological problems, those who have suffered memory loss, people who have been bereaved, and many parents who have suffered guilt as a result of misdiagnosing their child's illness as ‘flu, as symptoms are very similar.
The befriender co-ordinator tries to match befrienders and befriendees quickly (usually following a request for a befriender on the helpline), but she is careful to monitor the relationship as sometimes befrienders can be traumatised when recalling their own painful memories in a bid to emphasise with their befriendee. The befriender co-ordinator will also intervene if befrienders and befriendees do not ‘gel' or if a befriendee needs professional counselling.
Face-to-face befriending isn't promoted by the Meningitis Research Foundation. Some relationships can simply last one phone call but other befrienders and befriendees build up friendships over a period of time and may choose to meet up, in which case the Meningitis Research Foundation will step aside.
The majority of befrienders are women – only 26 out of 136 volunteers are men and less men also request befrienders, but it is hoped that targeting more men directly and a move to more email-based befriending may encourage more males to volunteer.
Training
Training is done in-house with the help of the befriending network in Scotland . The course is in 2 parts – 2 separate days which are 4 weeks apart. In part 1 participants share experiences, discuss what will be expected of them and what the boundaries will be (e.g. that they will not be expected to give medical advice, intervene in family disputes or offer legal advice, for example, if someone wants to sue a hospital for negligence). Where befriendees become too emotionally dependent, volunteers are encouraged to refer befriendees back to the befriender co-ordinator.
The second part of the training involves the practicalities of befriending. Role plays are enacted so volunteers are able to deal with making the initial call to their befriendee, being a sympathetic ear, acting as a confidante and knowing when to refer people to the helpline for support.
At the end of the 2 day course, volunteers who still want to become befrienders have their details entered on a database and if someone calls to request a befriender, the co-ordinator will contact the befriender to ensure he/she is still happy to volunteer. If so, the co-ordinator will swap befriender and befriendee contact details and asks the befriender to make the initial contact once a suitable time to call has been established. It is within the first 3-4 weeks that the co-ordinator monitors the relationship to ensure that both participants are happy with this.
To date feedback has been extremely positive and many of those who have benefited from the scheme continue to call the MRF to keep them updated with their own personal news.
“Jeni was able to share her experience with me which helped me to understand that my feelings were totally natural. But the biggest single benefit Jeni brought me was light at the end of the tunnel. Befriending has been good for me and I believe it can be good for others too”.
For further information, please contact:
Francesca Pioli
Befriender Co-ordinator
Meningitis Research Foundation
Midland Way
Thornbury
Bristol
BS35 2BS
Tel: 01454 280419
Fax: 01454 281094
Email: fran@meningitis.org
