SPLW Series: Befriending & Social Prescribing – working together to create connections

This webinar is aimed at social prescribing link workers and will be sharing examples and case studies, link workers are engaged with, connecting people with volunteer befriending opportunities, which have mutual benefits for both the volunteer befriender and the recipient.  Volunteer befriending, can open up new opportunities, activities,  improve confidence, increase the feeling of connectedness, self-esteem and is known to reduce the burden on other services.

Throughout the pandemic, to avoid infection, we adapted to the need of maintaining spatial distance, isolation and shielding of the most vulnerable and in doing so, discovered the pain and impact of loneliness, how detrimental it is for our health and rediscovered the value and important of social connection and community.  The impact of the pandemic on the volunteering landscape has been extraordinary. There have been big shifts in how people are volunteering, what they’re doing, who’s getting involved and with what. With a significant increase in digital provision and local community mutual aid projects.