Bucks Mind is incredibly grateful to Silverson Machines for its continued support of our vital Befriending service. The company, based in Chesham, have made quarterly donations of £2,500 towards the Befriending service for the last year, allowing us to support more people who are lonely or isolated due to mental ill-health.

We are delighted to announce that Silverson Machines will be continuing to provide this very generous donation every quarter for the next year.

“This is fantastic news,” says Vicky Royal, Bucks Mind’s Wellbeing Groups Team Lead. “This funding makes a huge difference to the Befriending service and the people we support.”

Our Befriending Service offers one-to-one support to adults who are lonely or isolated as a result of mental health problems. Our Befriending Coordinators recruit and train volunteers, who then form ‘partnerships’ with people who have a mental health difficulty. These partnerships can be based around a specific activity, learning a particular skill or simply there to provide regular social contact.

We work positively by introducing people to each other on a friendly, informal and supportive basis. Bucks Mind actively promotes independence and recovery. Each service user has different needs and wants to achieve different things. Coordinators, Befrienders and Befriendees work together to identify the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Often the aim is to build confidence by having regular social contact with other people.

Establishing a successful, trusting Befriending partnership can encourage our service users to feel more confident about forming positive relationships in the future and, therefore, Befriending partnerships can have a lasting impact on people’s lives.

To find out more about our Befriending service, please click here.