Purpose of the role
The Chatty Café Scheme connects volunteers with those experiencing loneliness and social isolation to receive a weekly telephone call. We truly believe having a chat can brighten someone’s day, and a simple weekly chat over the phone to someone experiencing loneliness can make a big difference to a person’s well-being and happiness.
What will you be doing
After being matched with a person (beneficiary) to call, you will be required to phone them for 30 minutes a week, for 12 consecutive weeks. Once those calls have ended, you’ll be matched to your second beneficiary for another 12 weeks and so on. You can decide with your beneficiary, the day and time you call, as it needs to be convenient for both of you.
We are looking for Volunteers with the following skills and attributes:
- Enjoy chatting to new people
- Good at listening
- Very reliable
- A friendly, patient, and empathetic approach
- Ability to complete an online application form and access zoom virtual meeting
- Basic computer literacy (including the ability to use email and Zoom online meetings)
- Passionate about our vision
When and where
You can do this role from home, over the telephone, and do not need to travel anywhere.
You need to be able to call your person from a landline or a mobile phone. We cannot reimburse you for the calls you make so it is important that you check you have unlimited free calls on your phone contract.
All the volunteer training is done online, using Zoom vidoo conferencing, so please ensure you can access Zoom before applying.
It is very important that you call when you promise to and provide regular feedback to your Volunteer Supervisor, with an update on how your calls are going and to relay any concerns you might have.
Support offered
We provide training before you start your calls and run through all the rules that are in place to keep you and the beneficiaries as safe as possible. We also ask you to watch a safeguarding video and attend an onboarding session on zoom.
Once you start your calls, you will be matched to a volunteer supervisor who will check in with you once a month to ask for an update on how your calls are going.
What you could get out of it
Volunteers often say they enjoy talking to someone new and learning new things through the conversations. The feeling of knowing that you are making a positive difference to another person’s life, through a simple phone call, can be very rewarding.
Requirements from you.
- Agree to purchase an enhanced DBS check at a cost of £16 (see below).
- Attend 1 x 30-minute onboarding session via Zoom online video conferencing; complete an ID check via Zoom; provide 1 reference name; watch safeguarding training.
- Inform your Volunteer Supervisor/Chatty Café Scheme Designated Safeguading Officer of any safeguarding concerns or issues you might have.
- Maintain confidentiality about the person you are calling.
- Follow all guidance in your Chatty Telephone Volunteer training to ensure that the experience for all parties, as much as possible, is enjoyable, appropriate, and in line with our mission, values, and policies.
DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) certificate
All our telephone volunteers are required to have an Enhanced Adult DBS certificate, less than 2 years old. If you do not have one already, we can help you apply for one. The cost of the certificate is £16 and is payable by yourself.
Other relevant information
You need to be able to access Zoom video conferencing, as this platform is used to run our volunteer onboarding sessions and identification and DBS checks.
