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Make a referral

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Thank you for your interest in South London Cares.

Please note that:

  • We are only able to take referrals for those aged over 65 and living in Southwark and Lambeth;
  • Unfortunately, we are not able to take referrals for people living with a diagnosis of dementia, a psychotic disorder and/or any other unmanaged mental or physical health condition. We consider a physical or mental health condition to be managed when the person living with the condition has adequate support in place and/or is on medication that helps them cope with their condition. Medication is not a necessity for their condition to be deemed as managed.
  • Please note that we are experiencing a high number of referrals for our Love Your Neighbour programme at the moment, particularly in Southwark, so there may be a delay before we get in touch with the older neighbour. On average, the wait time from the point of referral to an older neighbour being matched on the programme is over 5 months. If we have been unable to meet with or match the neighbour within 6 months, we will get back in touch to discuss best next steps. Please also read our referral guidance, which gives more information about how the programme works, and what referrals we can and cannot accept.

To make a referral please complete our referral form. If you want to stay in the loop about the clubs, events and activities we offer, sign up to our mailing list for monthly updates.

After you make a referral, we will call the person you referred to introduce ourselves and arrange any follow up – for example, if someone is referred to Love Your Neighbour, we will visit them before proceeding with their referral. During busy periods, it may be up to two weeks before we are able to contact a new referral.

What can I refer an older neighbour for?

Our Social Clubs are free group activities that take place several times a week, in person (face-to-face), over the phone or online (over Zoom). They offer the chance for older (aged 65 or over) and younger neighbours to share time, laughter and new experiences that help everyone to feel part of our rapidly changing city, rather than left behind by it. Our Social Clubs take place on weekdays, evenings and weekends, and include dance workshops and discos, creative writing sessions, chair yoga, and trips to local businesses.

Please note that we are experiencing a high number of referrals for our Love Your Neighbour programme at the moment, particularly in Southwark, so there may be a delay before we get in touch with the older neighbour. On average, the wait time from the point of referral to being matched on the programme is over 5 months. If we have been unable to meet with or match the neighbour within 6 months, we will get back in touch to discuss best next steps.

Love Your Neighbour is a friendship matching programme. It introduces younger and older neighbours living across Southwark and Lambeth, matching them together to spend time one-to-one together, either over the phone, in-person or a mix of both.

On the Love Your Neighbour programme, friends generally catch up together once a week, to enjoy company and conversation. We match people based on proximity and try our hardest to bring people together based on mutual interests to create genuine, long-lasting friendships.

Volunteers cannot help with practical tasks such as cooking, cleaning or attending doctor's appointments. Before making a referral for Love Your Neighbour, please read our referral guidance, which gives more information about how the programme works, and what referrals we can and cannot accept.

We send out free monthly #AllTogether Activity Packs (in the post or over email), which include an activity for every week of the month to do at home. Each suggestion is different and could range from writing a letter to an inanimate object, to deciding what you’d do if you were Prime Minister for the day, to cutting out words from a newspaper to turn into an abstract poem.

We run regular Technology Workshops as part of our Social Clubs programme, where older neighbours can receive support on how to set up and use different devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. We also support older neighbours to get set up on Zoom, so they can join our Virtual Social Clubs from home. So, if you know an older neighbour who has access to the internet on a smartphone, tablet or laptop, but isn’t sure how to video call – we can help! Please note that unfortunately, we’re not able to provide any equipment or advice about it, or support someone with getting connected to the internet. However, we do work with a range of community partners who can provide devices or support neighbours with using technology at home.