We believe that everybody should lead their life with enjoyment, fulfillment and choice. Sometimes in later life these things can become a little more difficult to achieve for some people. Our Hand in Hand service is designed to help!
Our aim is to make a real difference to people’s lives by improving the wellbeing of local residents, providing the older people who are referred to us with new social opportunities and helping them to live full and independent lives for as long as possible.
There are three main elements to our proposed scheme:
- Signposting Services – Our dedicated staff and volunteers will identify appropriate events or activities taking place in the local area and will guide individuals using our service (also known as scheme members) to them. With the help of the community, we have created a database of services, activities, clubs, groups and events in the Winchester area to support this. It is our intention to liaise with third parties and other organisations to keep the database up to date for the benefit of local older people. It will be one central place to access local information specifically for older people, and will arrive on our website in 2019.
- Living Well Plans – This involves us chatting with the member using the St John’s Hand in Hand service about what support they may need. This conversation will allow us to produce a ‘living well plan’ to gain a clear understanding of how we can help. It also gives the scheme member and their family and friends the opportunity to set out what they want to achieve.
- Befriending – A key part of the initiative is befriending. Our warm and welcoming team of volunteers will offer companionship to scheme members, especially in circumstances where help and support is needed. We will try to match volunteers to scheme members based on their preferences, personalities and what it is that they want to achieve. They will spend time with the scheme members in ways that will make a positive impact and a real difference!
Please read our latest press release here for more information. Click here to download a leaflet to find out more about how the scheme will work.
