Talk Together

Talk Together is a confidential, free contact service for Thalidomide Trust beneficiaries to help combat loneliness and isolation.

If you need a friendly ear the Trust will put you in touch with another beneficiary who has time to listen, the perspective to understand and the right skills to support.

Request A Call

How Talk Together can help

  • The Talk Together contact service

TalkTogether is designed to put beneficiaries of the Trust who feel lonely or isolated in touch with another beneficiary who will be there to offer a friendly ear each week in a confidential telephone call.

From conversations we have with beneficiaries, during HNAs and telephone calls we receive at the Trust office, we know that many of you feel isolated and lonely at times.

This may be due to changes in your life such as losing a loved one or a lack of close family or friends or it may be that deteriorating health and confidence mean you can no longer go out and about like you used to.

Although TalkTogether is not an advice line, you may find that talking to another beneficiary means you can share problems and concerns with someone who understands and may have faced similar worries.

Become a Talk Together volunteer

Talk Together volunteer Mandy de la Mere

How to become a volunteer

  • Who can use this service?

Any beneficiary who feels they would like someone to talk to on a regular basis.

  • How does it work?

You tell us you would like to receive a call from TalkTogether and we will match you with a trained volunteer and arrange for them to call you each week for a chat. We will do all the work for you – all you need to do is answer the phone!

We will arrange for you to receive a weekly telephone call on a day and time that suits you. The call will be set up for the same day at the same time each week. We will ask about your availability when you join TalkTogether. Of course there may be some weeks when you are not available, but we can work around this.

We will try our hardest to match you with someone who has similar interests to you, so we hope you will find your conversation flows and over time you will build up trust and feel able to talk about anything that is important to you.

We hope you will find it easy to talk to the person who calls you and enjoy your conversations, but from time to time the matches might not work. In that case talk to us and we will do our best to find an alternative.

  • All Talk Together calls are free

TalkTogether volunteers will make the call to beneficiaries. They do this through a special system that means they will not have your phone number and you will not see theirs. The Trust will pay for the calls – they are completely free to you.

  • All Talk Together calls are confidential

The volunteers are all trained in confidentiality and sign a confidentiality agreement not to discuss your conversations with any other beneficiaries. Volunteers with serious concerns about someone’s safety may, in that case, tell Annabelle or Katy at the Trust so that we can consider whether safeguarding action is required.

  • Find out more if you think Talk Together would help you

Contact Annabelle Blackham by completing our online form below or call 01480 474074. Annabelle will then contact you to explain how TalkTogether works and will be able to help you decide whether it is for you.

If you decide to go ahead Annabelle will arrange a time to talk to you in more detail about your hobbies and interests and anything you want us to take into account. This will help us match you with the right person to talk to.

Request A Call

typing on keyboard

    Nature of Enquiry*

    I'd like a Talk Together call*I'm interested in becoming a volunteer*