Some of these services offer online or telephone support as well as in-person services. For more information about organisations providing befriending services as well as activities in your local area, please visit Simply Connect Bromley
This free service is available for any resident of Bromley who is unable to visit their local library. Volunteers will visit you each month for a friendly chat and bring items of your choice which can include hardbacks, paperbacks, large print and talking books; books in different languages, music CDs, DVDs and any information you need. Contact your local library for more information. Volunteers are provided by Royal Voluntary Service bromley.hls@royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk
Offer a range of activities for parents and children, books clubs and other events. These can be accessed through the Library Without Walls and in-person.
As part of the Bromley Well suite of services, Age UK Bromley and Greenwich delivers the Community Befriendship Service for people aged 65 and over. This free service offers telephone befriending, home visits and helps people get out and about, meet others, socialise and make new friends.
Bromley Well also offers a range of peer support and group activities for people providing unpaid care for family and friends, people with long-term health conditions, physical and learning disabilities and mental ill-health living in the borough. A full listing of upcoming activities and peer support groups can be found at: www.bromleywell.org.uk/events/
A registered charity which provides free volunteer support to older people aged 65+ throughout Bromley. This can be through shopping, befriending, and transport to local places and gentle exercise classes.
The befriending service matches volunteers with clients who have a diagnosis of dementia and are registered with the Bromley Dementia Support Hub. It is a free service, borough-wide. Typically volunteers visit the clients for a couple of hours a week to offer companionship, encouragement and support. Activities, where possible, include shopping trips, a walk in the park etc. Training and support is offered to volunteers on an ongoing basis.
Kent Association for the Blind
KAB provides volunteer befrienders for those experiencing sight loss of all ages either through visits or via the telephone. They also provide information and advice to help people live independently and carry out assessments to identify support needs including equipment and assistive technology. For more information call 020 8464 8406
The Maypole Project offers a befriending service for adults who have a child/ren or young person with a complex medical illness or disability. This is a chance to talk, have friendly conversation and companionship with a volunteer befriender on a regular basis over a long period of time.
A Buddy Scheme which matches volunteers with children and young people (and their siblings) who have a complex medical need or disability, to meet online or face to face for an hour a week to overcome isolation and encourage social interaction and peer support.
Mindful Mums Befriending in Bromley, Orpington
Mindful Mums Befriending in Bromley provides pregnant women and new mums with regular, practical, social and listening support on a one-to-one basis. It is looking to extend this service to new dads as well.
Re-engage offers support for people aged 75 and over. They run Sunday afternoon tea parties as well as provide call companions, a free service for older people who live alone and feel they would enjoy a friendly phone call every week or two. Rainbow call companions links people who are part of the LGBT+ community with befrienders who are also LGBT+.
Help for older people to live independently in their own homes, including befriending and Bromley’s home library service.