Introducing Myself – Your Village Agent
Hello, I wanted to introduce myself as Wellow’s Village Agent. My name is Chantal Young, I work for the West of England Rural Network (WERN). We are a charity that works in partnership with B&NES Council with a core focus of connecting people in rural areas to advice and support services to promote living independently at home. We support the health and wellbeing of rural communities who can often feel cut off from a range of public services which residents living in urban areas access more easily.
Our support is there for any adult 18 years and older who is struggling personally, emotionally, medically and financially and who needs help to find solutions to these kinds of issues but doesn’t know where to start looking and how to access organisations who could help. I provide a confidential and free “triage service” listening to the resident and then signposting and introducing them to the organisations who could help or to the information they need. As a service we have been operating in the west of the B&NES region for 10 years and we are now able to offer the service in this area.
Typically we support residents who are struggling with loneliness and want more social contact, or who have financial worries and are unaware of the different avenues that could offer help, people needing different levels of care to stay well and safe at home, people returning home from hospital and who might need short term support or something more permanent, people who need practical help in the home and don’t know who to trust. It varies enormously…..and we are very good at helping to find solutions amongst the huge network of public, private and charitable organisations we work alongside.
I can support people by meeting them at their home or elsewhere locally, or sometimes it just needs a phone conversation or an email. I work flexibly, 10 hours a week and I live locally. You can contact me and leave a message at any time on 01275 333700 or via email: chantal@wern.org.uk
Village Agent Update - August 2023