Befriender network

Support from those who truly understand.

Many people find it helpful to talk to someone with a similar experience of meningitis and septicaemia.

Since 2000 our telephone befriending network has been bringing together people who have been affected by meningitis and septicaemia.

The scheme offers ongoing telephone support from a trained befriender to those more recently affected.

The programme has over 135 trained volunteer befrienders and has Approved Provider Standard from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation.

Befrienders have a range of experiences of meningitis and septicaemia. Some have lost a loved one to the disease, others have had someone close to them recover with disabilities or have recovered from the disease themselves.

Joanna was put in touch with Jeni after losing her teenage son to the disease. Jeni became a trained befriender after her daughter died.

As Joanna says: "Jeni was able to share her experience with me which helped to understand that my feelings were totally natural and that allowed me to deal with them.

"But the biggest single benefit Jeni brought me was light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

"Telephone befriending has been good for me and I believe it can be good for others too."

If you would like to be put in touch with a trained befriender, please contact us by email or on our Freefone 24 hour helpline.

If you would like to be trained to offer telephone befriending support to someone else, contact our Befriender Co-ordinator, Helpline and Befriending Officer, Becki Wordsworth.

All befrienders are members of MRF.

Become a member of MRF