Welfare focus: you are not alone
Loneliness has a severe impact on the physical, mental and social wellbeing of Legion beneficiaries. Now, a new project is offering a solution
When you are part of an organisation that has a potential 10 million beneficiaries, you don’t expect social isolation to be an issue that affects you. Yet when the Legion conducted a survey into the welfare needs of those who are eligible for help, it found that about a quarter of those questioned are so lonely that they never set foot outside their own front door.
“It’s not just something that is particularly common with Legion-eligible clients, it’s common throughout society in general,” says Doug Davie, the Legion’s Health and Wellbeing Manager. “One of the key reasons for loneliness and depression is a financial restriction such as limited pension, debt or incorrect benefit payments. Often the problem is due to a lack of correct information and advice. Once they get the right advice and the help they are entitled to, that frees them up to start living an active and enjoyable life again.”
Offering information and advice about the Legion and other statutory services is just one way that the new Health and Wellbeing programme is helping those who are socially isolated become integrated back into society and gain a better lifestyle. The project provides them with access to a variety of services, including yoga classes, cookery lessons, bingo and internet training.
Doug says: “There’s a real mix of different services, and they are going down a storm. There’s even a Nintendo Wii games console available to them. We get the old guys to play tennis on it, which provides both gentle exercise and social interaction, so it’s really great.”
The service, which is completely free to Legion beneficiaries, is being piloted in 12 areas around the UK. The plan is to roll the service out around the UK next year. The plan is to eventually roll it out to every UK county next year.
The variety of services available varies greatly, depending on the needs of the beneficiaries in the area and are run from New Legion Clubs, suitable Legion Clubs and partnership venues located around the UK. However in more remote areas where transport can prove a challenge, more local services can be provided. All with the aim of getting the community back into the Legion. The only criteria that the individual projects must adhere to is that they cover each of the five key project areas. These are: offering advice and information; diet and nutrition guidance; exercise programmes; basic IT training and social activities.
The first pilot project commenced in May 2008, with others following in September. So far the results have proved positive. Doug says: “One of the pilots, which is taking place in Wakefield, achieved its first year’s figures in three months. It’s proving far more popular than we anticipated.”
The Legion’s dedicated team of County staff have reacted enthusiastically to the project too, overseeing projects, referring clients and confirming eligibility. “When I speak to staff in the Legion Counties, their first concern is whether there will be a huge workload for them, but their role is to oversee things and deal with eligibility queries more than anything,” he explains. “The County Offices are key to the project’s success, because they know the welfare needs in their area much better than anyone else does.”
To ensure the project’s costs and its use of County Office resources are kept to a minimum, Doug has been arranging meetings with various organisations, such as Age Concern, with a view to forming partnerships within local areas. “It’s an incredibly difficult project to set up. To do it all from scratch you would have to buy special equipment and find premises, then find somebody to manage them. It makes a lot more sense to use the existing skill-sets that are out there.”
It is apparent that a small amount of money spent well can have a profound effect on a person’s lifestyle. “One of the companies we’re partnering with provides nail-clipping services,” Doug explains. “A lot of people, elderly men especially, can’t cut their nails, which leads to infections and means they’ll need doctor’s visits and all sorts of expensive services. Now we can pay someone just £20 to visit them and cut their nails and, if necessary, refer them to a caseworker if they think they have other welfare needs.”
Judging by those who are already using the services, Health and Wellbeing is most beneficial to those in their 70s and 80s, but, Doug confirms that the service is available to those of any age: “If the project can subtly change the lives of people who are in their 30s or 40s, that will give them 30, 40, or even 50 years of improved lifestyle, which means they’re going to be less dependent on Legion or Government resources in the future, because they’ll be living independently,” he says.
But whatever age they are, he adds that the project’s underlying aim is to eradicate loneliness and rebuild community values. “It’s about getting people to live the way they used to live. They used to take an interest in each other, and used to talk to each other, socialise together and do the things that they enjoy.
“We always try to make their first visit a really enjoyable one, with free tea and coffee and biscuits – that sort of thing. We want them to go away and say to other people, ‘you really should try this’.”
