History

Whilst training as a social worker, our founder, Emily Kenward, became acutely aware that there were large numbers of older people living in Brighton who spent each day alone, often going for days or weeks without seeing or speaking to anyone.

Emily and a team from her local Church worked alongside partners such as Age UK Brighton and Hove, Lifelines Volunteering Matters, University of Sussex Social Work Department, and other local churches to reach, connect, and engage with older people. The hope was to identify their wants and needs with a view to helping them become more socially included within the community. The average age of the participants was 83, and the majority were living alone in local high-rise flats.

During 2011 – 2012 we held two consultation events. At these ‘Honouring Older People’ events, neighbours who hadn’t seen each other for years were reconnecting. They were swapping numbers and sharing stories about how their lives had changed since they had not been able to leave the four walls of their homes without extra support.

The majority of the 94 participants said they felt a deep sense of loneliness and that until we had reached out, they thought they were ‘invisible’. Evidence collected from these events highlighted an overwhelming need to ‘see a friendly face at home’ because ‘before you contacted me, I hadn’t spoken to anyone for months’.

Time to Talk Befriending was founded on the collective voice of these older people who told us they felt ‘invisible’, ‘forgotten’ and ‘alone’.  We are therefore truly thankful to have met these amazing older people whose voice not only formed the foundation of the Charity, but who we were then able to support once the Charity officially founded in December 2013.