The Brigitte Trust – Charities & Health
Service During Coronavirus Outbreak
In response to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, Brigitte Trust have suspended all face-to-face services until further notice. We are currently providing telephone support to all existing clients and continuing to accept new referrals to our service.
We have also extended our telephone support service to offer emotional support to any adult in the Surrey area who is vulnerable, lonely, isolated, bereaved or a carer who needs someone to chat to.
For more information or to make a referral please contact our Service Co-ordinator Sarah Pattenden on 07469 932192 or email sarah.pattenden@brigittetrust.com
Brigitte Trust
A free service of emotional support and practical help when a life-limiting illness such as cancer, MND, heart and lung failure and stroke has been diagnosed. The service covers every Surrey borough. Many people are now living with their diagnosis and our service is aimed at helping maintain a good quality of life.
Last year we:
- provided 3,519 hours of support
- To 431 clients
- by 141 volunteers
- making 3,346 phone calls
How can a Brigitte Trust volunteer help you?
Brigitte Trust volunteers have provided emotional support and practical help to clients with life-limiting illness, their carers and families for nearly 40 years.
The service, normally for three hours per week, is flexible according to the needs of the client and free of charge, although a donation to cover expenses is always welcome.
The service may be accessed during and after a course of treatment or surgery, where support is needed on a temporary basis, and towards the end of life.
Bereavement support of up to six months is also available to the family. Practical help may include transport for treatment or out shopping, home tasks and social visits, enjoying hobbies and listening to life stories.
In providing emotional support our volunteer will be sensitive to the individual and cultural needs of each person supported, with confidentiality maintained and respected.
Area Covered by Brigitte Trust’s Free Service in Surrey
Spelthorne, Runnymede, Elmbridge, Woking, Epsom & Ewell, Guildford and Waverley, Surrey Heath, Mole Valley, Reigate & Banstead, and Tandridge
Service Co-Ordinator for Surrey
Sarah Pattenden
Phone: 07469 932192
Email: sarah.pattenden@brigittetrust.com
Who can refer to the Brigitte Trust?
We welcome referrals from individuals, hospices and health and social care professionals.
We would however need to speak to a health professional such as a District Nurse or GP before proceeding with direct client referrals.
To use our service please call Sarah Pattenden on 07469 932192.
Should your call not be answered immediately please leave a brief message.
You can also contact us on referrals@brigittetrust.com
What happens when I contact the Brigitte Trust?
Our Service Co-ordinator will call between 24 and 48 hours. If appropriate a volunteer will be offered.
The Service Co-ordinator will review the needs of the client and the continuing involvement of the Trust on a regular basis.
Who is a Brigitte Trust volunteer?
Our volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds. All are required to attend a training course, as well as bi-monthly supervision and ongoing training.
All volunteers have undergone full DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks.
Volunteers are not trained or insured to offer nursing or personal care.
With the easing of restrictions, and always with respect for the safety of our volunteers and clients we hope to resume home visiting later in 2021.
Volunteering Training Courses
Volunteer training takes place on Zoom twice each month and volunteers will be allocated to one client at a time. All volunteers are fully trained before being placed with clients and are helped and supported in regular online support groups whilst volunteering with the Trust.
We urgently need new volunteers to continue and expand this vital service locally, with our close links with Woking Hospice, community responders and health and social care teams.
Our training covers:
- Listening and responding skills
- Loss and bereavement
- Awareness of beliefs
- Working with clients
- Boundaries
- Personal development
Brigitte Trust Supporter News
Here’s a link to the Brigitte Trust Supporters News April 2021. To recieve each month’s current news, you can sign up for this on the website.
“It is helpful having our volunteer…just knowing she will be with us every Tuesday and that she knows us so well…we don’t have to keep telling someone new the whole story, which can be so exhausting.”
“Brigitte Trust volunteers are totally reliable and a wonderful support to the patient and to their families.”
“We are in the unique position of being neither a family member nor a friend, and very often that can make us a useful sounding board to vent the strong emotions and worries which life-threatening illness can bring.
The training course which I attended when I first joined The Trust, together with on-going workshops and supervision, has made me feel that I am part of a friendly and hugely supportive team and I really enjoy my role as a volunteer.
It is a great privilege to be invited into someone’s home at a time which can be so emotionally and physically challenging and it can be a fulfilling and often humbling experience. And the feedback we get from our clients endorses the fact that we really do make a difference.”
Contact Details for The Brigitte Trust
Phone Number and Email Address
Referrals
Our Service Co-ordinator carries a dedicated Brigitte Trust mobile. If you leave a message your call will be returned as soon as possible.
Sarah Pattenden 07469 932192
Email: referrals@brigittetrust.com
Brigitte Trust Office
Phone: 01306 881816
Email: admin@brigittetrust.com
Please use the office number if you have difficulty reaching our Service Co-ordinator. (Please note: Our offices are open Monday – Thursday. Messages received out of hours will be answered as soon as possible).
Fundraising and Marketing
Phone: 01306 881816
Email: promotions@brigittetrust.com
Address
316 High Street
Dorking
Surrey
RH4 1QX
Website
