Building Futures Together
Building Futures Together Slough Telephone Befriending ServiceAbout Building Futures Together
What is Befriending? Befriending makes a real difference to people’s lives, often at a time of change, people aged 18 and over need the support of another person to help them through a difficult time. This could be for a variety of reasons including separation, domestic abuse, coping with a child with special needs, and grief, are just some reasons but not limited.
What will Telephone Befriending Service provide? Slough Telephone Befriending is a service provided by a volunteer-trained befriender who will contact you weekly or fortnightly. BFT will offer you befriending services in your language and with awareness of your cultural needs.
Who are BFT Telephone Befrienders? Our volunteers are recruited from various backgrounds and cultures and provide support and friendly chat to clients needing regular and friendly telephone calls.
What do BFT volunteers offer? Support and a listening ear, signposting, empowerment.
We also now offer a 15-minute welfare call; this is particularly beneficial to those who are on medications due to underlying health issues who are not able to sustain a half-hour call but simply want a call to check up on them if they okay every week, and if they need any help which we will gladly arrange.
Service Eligibility
Eligibility criteria include but are not restricted to:
- Feeling isolated
- Depressed
- Lonely
- Bereavement
- Low self-esteem/confidence
Important note: Slough-based only – focusing on BAME women who are further away from help in the local community.
You can be referred by a Slough GP Social Worker family services we do not accept self-referrals.
We are not a funded project and due to ongoing demand for our service, we may not always have the capacity to take on new referrals but add to a waiting list. To check if we can help email us at bftenquiry@gmail.com
Information for Volunteers
We are on a rolling program for volunteer telephone befrienders in Punjabi Urdu Hindi Arabic.
We offer Community Interpreting Qualification at levels 1 and 2 via Zoom. If you are based in Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead you may qualify for a funded place.
We offer a training package to our befrienders via Zoom (our volunteers can be based anywhere in the UK).
Volunteer from the comfort of your own home working with up to 1 2 clients (30 mins to one hour a week).
Age Groups
Adults (25-65)Themes
Ethnic Minority CommunitiesRegions
Country: England
Other Regions: Greater London
Other Information
Type of Befriending: Distance befriending including telephone, video call, letter writing or other means
Who can refer: Professional Referrals Accepted