Write a commentA Newry based organisation is looking for volunteers to help run their Helpline Service.
Action on Elder Abuse Northern Ireland aims to highlight, support and lobby for older people who are suffering abuse. Abuse can be financial, physical, emotional, sexual or neglect.
The Action on Elder Abuse charity has been operating in the UK for 25 years but has only in recent years arrived in the province.
Veronica Gray from Action on Elder Abuse explains "Three years ago with thanks to Big Lottery Funding we got the means to expand and develop a four nations organisation. We very much liken ourselves to the older peoples version of the NSPCC."
"We set up our base in NI two years ago in June and it's in response to the very unique circumstances in Northern Ireland for older people. We have a rapidly ageing population but we are the only part of the UK that doesn't have dedicated adult protection legislation, so we're working in quite a different environment, and we need that physical staff presence on the ground in NI to deal with the issues that are local to NI.
"We were also told when we set up, that older people as victims of abuse need to feel a connection and a confidence in their service provider, so that's why we brought what was a UK wide Helpline, we split it up, we devolved it out and we set up a NI arm of the Elder Abuse Helpline on 1st April 2017"
Newry Based
Veronica Gray, Director, AEA NI and Tara Smyth, NI Services Co-Ordinator hail from Newry and Rostrevor and both work from home.
"Being a relatively new charity it makes sense to be home based workers, using their limited resources to actually get out there and do the work rather than invest that money in rent and have less resources then to work for older people. Newry has as many older people at risk of abuse as any other parts of NI and is ideally placed. As Veronica comments "We have lots of ambitions for the charity in NI but we also have an eye on the Republic of Ireland so we're slap bang in the middle between Belfast and Dublin and I think that's where we need to be"
"Our geographical remit for our work is Northern Ireland, however over the past number of months we have decided to focus our delivery strategy in our local area and it's for very practical, operational reasons. We can make an impact here in Newry, we can take that model and then replicate that right across the board, rather than a more scattered approach. I think we've got the luxury now of three years under our belt. People across NI have heard of us in various forms. We've worked with other organisations right across the country, so we are no longer having to be reactive to that."
The Helpline
The helpline is run by home based volunteers but there are less of them available during the summer months.
As Tara Smyth commented "We have a recruitment drive on at the minute, trying to get more volunteers active and involved. There is a training process, volunteers will be fully trained to be on the helpline and what we are asking is four hours either a week or a fortnight from volunteers, once they are active on the helpline to take calls"
Volunteers work from their own home, with opportunities to meet one to one with the services co-ordinator for support and avail of on-going training. Opportunities are also available to come together as a volunteer team for social meet ups and very importantly peer support sessions for volunteers are held.
Tara adds "The helpline is confidential, it won't show up on anyones phone bills if they make the phone call, whether it's a family member or the person themselves. There will be no record of it."
What do I need to be a volunteer
Tara also explained what they are looking for in Helpline volunteers "We're looking for somebody who has empathy, who has a compassionate nature who would be able to speak to somebody on the phone, either the victim themselves, or more frequently, the family member who is ringing up on behalf of the victim. We need our callers to be a listening ear. This is the first time somebody has picked up the phone or it could be the fiftieth time they're telling you the story . You need to be there, patient, calm, take in all the details. There's not really qualifications so much, it's just a type of person being able to relate to the person on the phone and the situation that they're in"
The Issues
The most common reason that people phone at present is financial abuse of older people. When a care home is in the media for the wrong reasons, people with family members in nursing homes will ring for advice, help and reassurance - Are their family members being taken care of!
Other worries by older people or their families and friends can include emotional abuse, neglect, and sexual issues.
Veronica adds "We know from research that one in five older people in NI is a victim of financial abuse and financial abuse has historically accounted for upwards of 70% of our calls
"We know again from research that an older victim of financial crime is two and a half times more likely to die or go into residential care within two years than a non victim here.What we are looking at is a potential fatal impact of a financially based crime.
"Previously people wouldn't have made those connections. They would have thought of the fatal impact of a physical assault on an older person, or sexual assault or neglect but now we are seeing the impact is so severe it can lead to early care admission or death."
They have seen property taken, jewellery stolen, holiday homes sold from under the nose of the older person, deeds forged. It can be on a massive scale or on a small scale but the impact on the older person is no different.
Help Available
Action on Elder Abuse can refer callers to the trust, PSNI or ombudsman amongst others but it's not always straightforward as many crimes against older people are carried out by their own families.
Veronica explains "Some older people don't want to go down that route of physically reporting a crime as most times it's against a family member, so you could suggest things like family mediation, are the funds recoverable, does the person have mental capacity, can they be assessed by their GP.
"We find times that the power of attorney has gone where it shouldn't have gone, because the person didn't have the capability to do so, those are the kind of things that we do. We can make a call on their behalf to the trust or social services. We can do that ourselves if they ask us to or we can empower them to do that themselves if they wish to. We find a lot of them ring back the helpline to keep us updated on the process."
ACTION ON ELDER ABUSE NORTHERN IRELAND HELPLINE NUMBER - 080 8808 8141 (Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm)
See www.elderabuse.org.uk for more information. If interested in volunteering you can contact them via their helpline number or email nireland@elderabuse.org.uk
