INTEGR8 BEFRIENDING – Ally: #BefriendingIs chatting happily
26th September 2021
INtegr8 is the Youth Action Project’s Befriending Service for 10 – 21 year olds. They aim to reach some of West Lothian’s most vulnerable young people, specifically those who are isolated and experiencing issues around their mental health/well-being. Young people may have things going on in their lives such as peer or family difficulties, being bullied, feeling alone, or experiencing stress or anxiety.
Befriending during the pandemic
I would never have thought that a distance befriending session would have involved trying to help my young person tune his guitar over facetime! However, in these strange times, befriending has been a bit different to what I had initially expected. And similarly, I suspect it has been the same for my young person, Kieran.
I started befriending just over a year ago now and, throughout this time, I’ve managed to maintain continuous contact with Kieran through a combination of distance and face-to-face sessions.
When restrictions have allowed, we have enjoyed walks around my young person’s neighbourhood, games of football in the park and long hikes or cycles down to McDonald’s for some tea. As restrictions have eased, we have recently started to venture out in the car instead of walking and hopefully we can soon do some more varied activities.
All of the face-to-face sessions have felt very ‘safe’ with both of us obviously sticking to the various COVID guidelines. It has definitely helped that Kieran has been very sensitive towards any concerns I’ve had around close contact and always insists on wearing his mask even although at times this has not been a requirement.
During our ‘normal’ virtual sessions, we have chatted, played games, pulled funny faces and chatted some more. In a couple of more creative sessions, we have tuned his guitar and spent time drawing – well, I have mainly watched him drawing as he is exceptionally creative and in one particular session drew some of his own cartoon characters!
Sometimes our calls can last as little as ten minutes but on other occasions we can be chatting away for more than an hour without realising that the time is passing. This has probably been helped by the fact that we both like to chat!
I have to say that the success of the continued contact throughout the uncertainty of the last year has been largely down to Kieran being willing to engage in phone and video calls, as well as both of us adjusting our expectations and being flexible.
Even if we haven’t been able to do some of the more traditional befriending activities throughout the pandemic, we have been able to get to know each other well and build a strong and positive relationship.
By Ally (Befriender)
By: INTEGR8 BEFRIENDING
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