Briege recognised for volunteering

Briege recognised for volunteering

12 June 2024

BRIEGE Trainor, a service user turned volunteer with the South Eastern Trust’s DisAbility HUB, has credited the service in transforming her outlook and friendships.

This is Loneliness Awareness Week with this year’s theme ‘random acts of connection’ which is encouraging people to increase simple, everyday moments of connection to combat loneliness and increase a sense of belonging.

Research has shown how the impact of loneliness on health can increase the risk of poor mental health, anxiety, poor sleep quality and early mortality.

Briege has been accessing the HUB based at the Downshire Hospital in Downpatrick’s for almost two years after a referral from her GP. 

She was referred by her own GP due to self-isolation which, she admits, consumed her.

Briege said: “I didn’t have a physical disability as such and when I first walked in I kept thinking, ‘Would I fit in? and would I be accepted as who I am?’ Two years on from that day, I feel accepted.”

Now a volunteer with the service, Briege described it as valuable, emphasising that it needs to keep going.

She explained how both the service itself and welcoming other service users has helped her both, physically and mentally. 

“Being part of this service helped me communicate more and show people this is who I am and helped me to help others,” she revealed.

“Isolation can feel like being in a bubble. You can get so consumed that you forget that you need a good, positive social aspect as well. Being part of the service has given me the steps to show the skills I have and to show their skills to others.”

And Briege said it’s OK to make that step to come to the HUB, insisting those who do won’t regret it.

The health trust’s DisAbility HUB co-ordinator, Kelly Benson, said the service is continuing to grow since its inception four years ago.

“Our role is to engage people who live in the community and who don’t attend day centres or other forms of social engagement,” she said.

“We work with adults with physical disability, brain injury and sensory loss. We encourage them to come along to groups to socialise, to try new experiences through workshops and information sessions in the Down and Lisburn areas.”

Kelly revealed there are currently 103 people on the books at the minute, with the organisation trying  to reach out to people who are socially isolated because disability is a big aspect of social isolation and loneliness.

“We have discovered that loneliness can affect people’s health and well-being and actually make their physical health much more dependent upon the traditional services within the health trust,” she continued.

“Within the HUB we have a flexible approach to service users attending the sessions as and when their health allows them to. Those who attend find it is a brilliant way of making lasting friendships.”

 With volunteers such as Briege putting the HUB firmly on the map, Kelly said it is successes such as this that “supports and motivates me to make the service even bigger”.

She added: “People come through our doors who have been very shy, very unsure of their abilities and now we have people who are volunteering and welcoming others to combat their loneliness as well.”