Students join in!
Unite with other young people to help combat loneliness in care homes
Why become a YOPEY Befriender?
You could help solve this problem by becoming a YOPEY Befriender and doing any combination of the following:
- visit a care home near your school or home
- talk to residents and listen to their stories
- join in their activities, such as helping them in quizzes
- as you grow in confidence organise your own activities
- listen to music together – your favourites and theirs
- contact their family and write their life story
You would also be helping yourself because you would be:
- improving your communication skills
- learning history from before you were born
- developing human qualities such as empathy
- enhancing your CV, uni application and employability
How will YOPEY support you?
YOPEY will support you to help care home residents to do all or any of these things. We will send you ideas and you can ask us questions by emails. We may telephone you to give one-to-one advice and if you visit a care home we may visit it too.
Each time you do any of the above you would add a short report to your personal YOPEY Befriender profile, building up your Record of Volunteering Achievement.
When you leave YOPEY, we recommend you download a final copy of your Record of Volunteering Achievement to show people in the future.
As long as you remain a YOPEY Befriender – we would like you to volunteer with us for around 12 months – you can download your Record of Volunteering Achievement and show it to whoever you want. We may also share your Record and that of other YOPEY Befrienders with your school, the care home you visit and other relevant. We will anonymise your record where necessary.
How will YOPEY support you?
YOPEY will support you to help care home residents to do all or any of these things. We will send you ideas and you can ask us questions by emails. We may telephone you to give one-to-one advice and if you visit a care home we may visit it too.
Each time you do any of the above you would add a short report to your personal YOPEY Befriender profile, building up your Record of Volunteering Achievement.
When you leave YOPEY, we recommend you download a final copy of your Record of Volunteering Achievement to show people in the future.
As long as you remain a YOPEY Befriender – we would like you to volunteer with us for around 12 months – you can download your Record of Volunteering Achievement and show it to whoever you want. We may also share your Record and that of other YOPEY Befrienders with your school, the care home you visit and other relevant. We will anonymise your record where necessary.
Joining fee
£29.00
Your £29 joining fee covers the cost of processing your application to be a YOPEY Befriender. After that, YOPEY’s support is absolutely FREE! However, it is important you follow YOPEY’s advice and meet set deadlines. Eg for applying for your DBS. You are not entitled to a refund if you decide to leave or are excluded for whatever reason.
If you feel you are disadvantaged – for example you live in a low-income household or are in care – you can apply for a reduction in your registration fee. Please email tony@yopey.org giving reason/s for your requested reduction.
Terms and conditions
Contact us
Here’s what a few past YOPEY Befrienders think about taking part…
“I created a video of a music therapy session that YOPEY sent to care homes. I received a letter of gratitude from two women from a care home across the country. I felt I had really made a difference.”
“I believe compassion, time management, dedication and consistency are all required qualities. I have definitely improved these skills during my time as a YOPEY Befriender.”
“Being a YOPEY Befriender is a good way to gain both social and emotional resilience. These are skills that are extremely important in medical fields such as nursing or paramedics.”