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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The Silver Line helpline
— a "ChildLine" for older people | | Author(s) | Miriam Emily Wilcox |
| Journal title | Working with Older People, vol 18, no 4, 2014 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2014 |
| Pages | pp 197-204 |
| Source | www.emeraldinsight.com/wwop.htm |
| Keywords | Advisory services [elderly] ; Telephone ; Information services ; Loneliness ; Social interaction. |
| Annotation | The work of the new, free telephone helpline The Silver Line in empowering older people to overcome social isolation and loneliness, is described. Where appropriate, the helpline refers cases of abuse and neglect to specialist services. This paper begins with a family member's description of how the helpline made a difference to her relative. It then outlines the rationale, methods and outcomes of The Silver Line, including a role it may play in reducing demand for NHS services. The paper highlights that social isolation and loneliness can be tackled through a helpline which leaves control firmly in the hands of callers, while offering them a gateway to activities and services. It seems that telephone contact is a particularly helpful way for isolated people to begin to build social contact, given that there is evidence of a stigma associated with admitting to loneliness. When they are given a straightforward way to connect to others, people are empowered to overcome their own loneliness, improve their well-being, and sometimes to rejoin their community. The charity reports that callers to the helpline may themselves become volunteer befrienders ("Silver Line Friends") providing support to others and gaining evidence of their own value to society. In addition, a friendly chat over the phone can be an enabling link to gaining new skills, such as computer literacy, which may otherwise seem out of reach or irrelevant. The paper emphasises the importance of this helpline specifically and the wider need for hard to reach, isolated older people to have an accessible stepping stone to greater social contact and a better quality of life. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-150529238 A |
| Classmark | IT: UJ: UV: DV: TMA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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