Because members of the group live with an ABI, many find it difficult to remember group sessions and may enjoy being phoned regularly to see how they are doing. Families4Families has trained volunteers within the network who make calls to other members in the week leading up to a group session. If members don’t need reminder calls they let the volunteer know and it’s recorded in the database, so only those that value the service receive such calls.
One of the volunteers, Sam, comes into the Hub and makes all the calls for many of the groups once a week. She has a wonderful phone presence, and members love having a chat, hearing about the session (and any additional special events or other information). They also have ‘friendly follow-up forms’ available so, if Sam thinks a member needs some additional advice or support she fills in a simple form and gives it to another volunteer who is trained in counselling/advocacy/advice who then follows up with the member referred. The system works really well and helps Families4Families keep track of members, ensuring no one gets left behind due to memory issues they may need to manage.
