Following their recruitment, induction and training, Cambridgeshire ACRE’s team of Village Agents are now working out in the communities of Fenland and South Cambridgeshire.
Our Community Living Rooms project in Fenland and our Community Hubs project in South Cambridgeshire both have provision to employ a team of Village Agents. Village Agents are locally-based people who embed themselves in the rural communities they work in, building their local networks so they can support the people they meet by signposting them to services that will address any needs they have.
The Village Agent team in Fenland consists of Lucille Bingham and Kelly Bloss, whilst the team in South Cambridgeshire is made up of Adele Furness and Angela Stibbs. The team is overseen by our Community Wellbeing Manager, Rachel Mason.
During their first seven weeks with us, the team have taken time to understand how their roles fit with others undertaking similar work across the county. For example, meetings have been held with the Personalised Care Leads at the Primary Care Networks (groups of GP practices) to understand how social prescribing works and how referrals can be made (between the two teams).
The team have also met with colleagues from Age UK Cambridgeshire, the Stay Well Network, How Are You (HAY) representatives, the County Council’s Community Connectors, housing associations, community transport providers, Community Wardens, Care Network’s Community Navigators and the Sun Network (who help people get access to the best possible mental health, drug and alcohol support services).
At a more local level, the Village Agents are now visiting their assigned Community Hubs / Community Living Rooms on a regular basis and are therefore becoming a ‘familiar face’ to those who attend. Already we have seen Village Agents making connections to those who haven’t known who to turn to and who are now, with the Village Agents’ support, getting the help and advice they need from other professionals.
The types of support given by Village Agents so far has included:
- Helping people to access bereavement counselling.
- Supporting residents to resolve issues with their utility bills.
- Supporting someone to contact their local CAB in order to make an application to the Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme (CLAS) for new white goods following an unexpected house move.
- Supporting carers to access carers’ support services.
- Supporting people to access community transport schemes that they were previously unaware of.
- Making referrals to P3 charity for people having difficulties with living independently.
- Helping individuals to access foodbank vouchers.
- Passing on information about where an individual can have their hearing aids ‘retubed’ locally rather than having to make a lengthy and costly trip to Addenbrookes.
- And perhaps most importantly, providing a listening ear and emotional support for those suffering from chronic loneliness.
There are now leaflets available explaining more about how our Village Agents work and how they can support people. These can be downloaded below:
Residents in these areas can self-refer themselves to a Village Agents for support or family, friends or professional can refer on a resident’s behalf, provided they have their permission.
Referrals can be made by phone to Rachel Mason, Community Wellbeing Manager on 01353 865025, by email at rachel.mason@cambsacre.org.uk or via an online referral form available at: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/village_agent_referral/
