This is part of a series of conversations with member organisations of the Connection Coalition.
Rachel Horner is Chief Executive at Age UK Calderdale & Kirklees. Here she discussed this local charity’s work, the specific issue of loneliness and the benefits and challenges of befriending to combat it, and her pride at their person-centred approach to local service provision.
Being a CEO
I’ve been with Age UK Calderdale & Kirklees for over 10 years, previously working as our Financial Executive. In finance everything was usually pretty black and white, but not so much as Chief Exec! Its been a fascinating and rewarding new challenge, navigating a lot of meetings where my role is more complicated than before, but it’s been an opportunity that I’ve been very grateful for.
A local Age UK
We’re a local charity, affiliated with but entirely independent from the national Age UK organisation. Age UK was formed when Age Concern and Help the Aged merged and it was another merger that brought me where I am now – Age Concern Calderdale and Age Concern Kirklees joined forces around 2009. I was a consultant helping with the finances, and as so often happens, a short term piece of work turned into something much bigger!
Age UK pros and cons
There are many benefits to being part of the national Age UK network – not least the learning and sharing we do between the affiliated charities, and we get some funds and contracts because we’re part of that bigger Age UK picture. But it brings interesting challenges too. A major one is getting across to the local community that our charity is indeed independent and local – that any donations they make to us stay local.
Loneliness
It feels like we’re more aware of loneliness than ever, and that it’s more prevalent than ever. I think I read a statistic the other day that 85% of men feel lonely after a close bereavement – which is hardly surprising. At the same time it feels like the resources we have to deal with it are dwindling. We run a befriending scheme to try to help people experiencing loneliness, but of course that’s just the ones that come to us, we also try and work with other services such as GP surgeries to try and reach others who are feeling lonely.
Befriending
Our befriending work stands out as being a particularly vital way for us to do something about loneliness in our communities at the moment. But we really need more volunteers. We find people are really good at giving their time for one-off things but it’s volunteering on a regular, longer-term basis that we’re in need of – it’s a big challenge for us. We have a constant waiting list for our befriending scheme. Really valuable connections are built when befriending done in the traditional way, and we are always in need of fantastic volunteers who can dedicate their time on a longer term basis. We also need ideas of new ways of approaching befriending. Doing befriending in collaboration seems to be a way to go – community groups might offer more choice for friendships and aren’t reliant on one volunteer over a long period of time.
A host of services
We deliver a lot of services for the local community besides befriending – I’ll try to pick out a few. Our information and advice service is hugely important in helping with things like benefits. Another crucial service is our Wellbeing (daycare) Centres, which provide transport to the centre, activities and a warm lunch. We have a handyperson service for small everyday jobs that people can’t do themselves anymore, plus we have a trusted trade directory for bigger jobs. Our home from hospital service is also really important, ensuring older people who’ve spent a while in hospital go home to heating that works, food in the kitchen, a cup of tea made for them, a reminder of where the remote control is!
Speaking of remote controls, what do you think about the relationship between tech and loneliness?
So many services in life are now only available through the use of tech, if someone has a problem using computers then it becomes a massive issue. There is nothing like face to face contact to connect people and combat loneliness, so digital technology in general, isn’t a complete solution to loneliness at all – but it can have enormous benefits. I was recently with a gentleman whose daughter had emigrated to New Zealand, he was finding video calling tricky due to the size of the buttons. We were able to provide a simple video calling platform for him to use which didn’t have any buttons for him to worry about, which meant when she called she just popped up on screen. It was such a joy knowing he could speak to his daughter on Christmas Day. Moments like that make me proud of the massive difference we can make in individuals’ lives
Client centred
People can refer themselves for most of our services – they don’t need to be signed up as a member or anything. We’re client centred, so we always work to understand whoever it is we’re talking to, what their individual needs are, and try to figure out how to best help them. We’d never dismiss someone’s needs by saying ‘sorry, can’t help you with that one’ – we always do what we can or find someone else that can help. It’s our ethos of treating people as individuals, listening to them and responding to their individual needs that I’m most proud of in all we do.
If you’d like to connect with Rachel, she can be reached here [email protected].