As the government announced we would be going into our first national lockdown back in early 2020, concerns were raised regarding vulnerable customers who were being forced to self-isolate or socially distance during the crisis, often having little or no support from family or friends, they were at risk of serious health and wellbeing issues.
We started the Buddy Club to help those struggling
We found that a lot of our customers were struggling. They were struggling with their mental health and some were struggling to access food and prescriptions because they felt too anxious to leave their homes.
We also found that some had little or no support from family or friends and had no one to turn to in times of despair and need, and we did not want our customers to suffer in silence.
So, to help combat these feelings and to help our customers get the essentials they need throughout this time, we launched the Buddy Club. A scheme set up to provide regular companionship and emotional support through daily phone calls.
Having someone there to chat, listen and look out for you has a hugely positive impact on wellbeing
Our Buddy Club helps to keep people engaged. Having someone to listen and regularly talk to can and will make a huge difference to a vulnerable person’s life and will give them back hope when they need it the most.
Getting food and supplies can be difficult, and it’s not always easy for some people to find out what support is available to them in their area. So, as well as being a friendly voice and access to support, the Buddy Club works with the Good Grub Club, another initiative set up at Abri to combat hunger in the community to provide food parcels to those that need them. We are currently delivering food parcels to our residents in Southampton and Bordon and will roll this out to the rest of our areas soon.
The calls we make are a chance for our customers to share their issues, access any help they need (whether it’s about finances or being able to get supplies) and to simply talk about their day.
We don’t make one-off calls
We make sure the calls are not a one-off, so during the first phone call we will ask the customer if they want to sign up to the Buddy Club. We then agree with them the best time to call and how often they would like to receive a call.
It’s said that “loneliness and social isolation can be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day”. It really resonates and motivates the team to make sure the Buddy Club is there for those customers who need it. Since it began, we’ve seen the positive impact it has had on our customers.
We’ve got over 80 colleagues making regular calls to customers each week
We have over 80 colleagues making a number of calls per week, covering all of our geographical areas. We have 35,000 homes covering the south of England and have around 80,000 residents living in them.
When we began, some colleagues were either re-deployed into this new role due to not being able to complete their role because of the pandemic, or they made the calls alongside their day job. Kindly volunteering their time, even if it meant working in the evenings to be there for our customers.
We made sure we were there for our customers over Christmas too when our offices were shut and worked with external agencies to provide hampers to the customers signed up to the Buddy Club. And we will do the same over the Easter period.
We’ve got five buddy teams set up to reach as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Each colleague has been specifically trained on topics such as safeguarding, challenging conversations, self-care and resilience, support mechanisms and IT.
Since it began last year, the teams have:
- Engaged with over 9,000 customers
- Completed over 6981 callbacks
- Received 223 referrals
- Signed up 938 customers to the Buddy Club
Anyone can be a Buddy at Abri, no matter what their job is. We have colleagues from our Senior Leadership team to colleagues in Housing, Trades, our Customer Contact Centre and more. There are colleagues from all areas of the business.
We know the Buddy Club is working
Through the comments we receive, we can see that the Buddy Club is working and helping our customers to feel less alone.
We receive comments such as:
- Thanks for keeping me sane, I have felt less alone having someone to talk too
- Having someone to chat with makes me feel normal again.
- You are the only person I talk to and it’s been really helpful.
- It’s nice to be able to have a laugh during a time like this and to talk about the café even though we aren’t there, we really miss it.
During the time the Buddy Club has been running we’ve:
- Helped customers who have been worried about going out and reassured them what was reasonable and safe.
- We’ve helped a gentleman who ran out of medication. His Buddy spoke to the customer's GP surgery to make sure he got a top-up of the medication he needed.
- We have been able to provide food parcels to those who can’t source food themselves.
And so much more.
We’re not going to stop the Buddy Club after the pandemic
We’re not going to stop the Buddy Club after the pandemic, as we know that this is something that’s so needed within our communities.
We’re going to incorporate the Buddy Club into our Operating Model and grow the team so we can be there for even more of our customers. The pandemic has increased domestic abuse, caused financial hardship and has caused a huge distress. We’ll continue to provide support and be there for our customers.