There are currently 80,000 older people living alone in Northern Ireland, and many face Christmas alone. Older people are especially vulnerable to the effects of loneliness and isolation, and it has been proven to have a significant and serious impact on physical, mental, and emotional health. The detrimental impact includes rapidly increased frailty, a rising risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, and depression. Loneliness can contribute to early death and this risk increases with age.

Check-in and Chat supports around 250 older people each year with a weekly friendship call. An initial assessment is carried out to identify personal interests, additional needs, and individual circumstances to facilitate matching to a trained volunteer. As conversations and friendships develop, the volunteer will often identify the need for more specialist support such as signposting to other Age NI advice and wellbeing services which could otherwise be missed. This connection is powerful!