One Place Befriending
Providing support to Redbridge residents who may be feeling isolated, lonely and cut-off from friends, family and their community.
Mental Health Befriending Scheme
Mental health Befriending aims to support those living with, or affected by poor mental health. We aim to provide specialist support with specialist staff and volunteers who are trained in both Mental health First Aid and the delivery of tailored support in this area.
Our staff and volunteers will provide assessment and triage, as well as using referral documents to establish tailored support – which can last up to a year. Support can either be provided in person, or via telephone. A review of support will be carried out at the end of the first year. An extension can be provided if needed. We work closely with your support network – which may include members of the mental health team, your GP, psychologist, therapists and other professionals to ensure that you receive the right level of care and support.
This service is only available to residents of the London Borough of Redbridge. The person must be in receipt of primary or secondary care. Referrals to the service can be made by a professional within the statutory, voluntary and private mental health organisations. This can also include GP’s and social prescribers.
If you would like to volunteer as a mental health befriender, please take a look at the volunteering section of our website. We can provide placements for level 4 counselling students, people looking to get into mental health and social care or those with lived experience who would like to provide support to their local community.
To make a referral please contact:
Community Befriending
Our Community Befriending Service offers support to Redbridge residents who may be feeling isolated, lonely or disconnected from their friends, family, or local community. We also visit people who are housebound, providing companionship and a friendly face. In addition to regular befriending, we also offer ad-hoc practical support for those who may need one-off help such as help with grocery shopping, attending hospital appointments or assisting with short local errands.
The service is available to individuals with physical, sensory, hidden or learning disabilities and those who identify as neurodiverse or who are living with mild dementia. However, the service is also open to anyone who feels they need extra support or connection in their lives.
Support is flexible and tailored to individual needs – we offer both in-person visits and telephone befriending. Before you are matched with a befriender, we carry out a short assessment to ensure the support is right for you and that you and your befriender have shared interests.
You can self-refer into this service – no formal referral is required. There may be times when there is a waiting list while we find the right match but we do our best to find you a suitable match as soon as possible and will contact you once a befriender becomes available.
We are currently recruiting for Volunteers to join our Befriending Team! If you’d like to support someone in your local area and help reduce loneliness, we’d love to hear from you.