Here For You: connect with other stroke survivors and carers

Since then Here For You has reached over 2000 people affected by stroke and we now know this is a hugely beneficial service to continue into the future. An evaluation in November 2021 showed as well as helping people to feel less alone, it can be really effective peer support. Many people reported that the regular conversations helped them understand how to cope better with the impacts of stroke.

What is Here For You?

Here For You is a telephone peer support service staffed by a core Stroke Association team of 4 and an additional large team of over 250 volunteers supporting the service at anyone time. Our volunteers are primarily stroke survivors and carers. Here For You is for anyone who has had a stroke or is caring for someone who has had a stroke.

When you sign up for the service, you can choose between two options. You can speak with someone with Lived Experience of stroke. Or one of our Connect and Chat volunteers, if you want to connect with someone more generally.

After you sign up, you'll receive one call per week for up to eight weeks. Our volunteers call you to chat about whatever is important to you. Each call lasts around 30 minutes.

The below information gives more detail about the two different call options;

Lived Experience

If you or someone you care for has recently had a stroke, our Lived Experience volunteers can help. They have experienced stroke first-hand.

They understand the practical and emotional challenges you face, and can offer you peer support to help rebuild your life after stroke. We try to pair people with volunteers who have a similar experience so they can offer unique and empathetic support.

Connect and Chat

You may be feeling more alone at the moment, unable to take part in the usual activities you enjoy. Our Connect and Chat volunteers provide support and offer you someone to talk to about your interests more generally to help you feel more connected with other people.

What do people say about Here For You

We've had some wonderful feedback from volunteers and people signing up for Here For You.

Alaire had a stroke back in 2017 while working as a Practice Manager in a busy GP practice. Following her stroke, she felt well supported and found her local stroke group particularly helpful. But then the coronavirus pandemic happened.

She heard about Here For You and decided to volunteer:

• "Sometimes sharing my experience of stroke is helpful because it lets them know that they are not the only person feeling like that. At other times, it is just about giving someone a little bit of encouragement or listening to them."

Looking back to her own experience of stroke, Alaire told us that she felt she could have really used a service like Here For You:

• "I really wish this initiative had been available after I had my stroke. I suffered from depression – a hidden effect of stroke – and it would have been lovely to have had a friendly voice to talk to."

Haydn had a similar experience, telling us how "bewildered" he felt after his stroke.

• "Those of us who have had a stroke know all too well that a stroke can be a very lonely experience.”

But volunteering with Here For You has been a great way for him to help support other stroke survivors and offer advice.

• “This service can mean so much to people. It’s a fulfilling experience. We are Here For You, and we are able to help people through their life after stroke.”

If you'd like to read more from stroke survivors about the Here For You service, why not check out Jarreth and Jade's story.

Signing up

If Here For You sounds like a service you'd like to use or volunteer with, you can follow the links below.

Need to speak with someone?

If you’ve had a stroke or care for someone who has and need someone to talk to, we’re Here For You. Our telephone support service connects you to trained volunteers, who offer peer support following a stroke and help combat feelings of isolation. Sign up today.

Visit stroke.org.uk/finding-support/here-for-you.

Looking to volunteer?

We aren't currently recruiting new volunteers. But if you are interested in volunteering, please keep an eye on the above website in future. Many people affected by stroke are feeling alone and isolated in their stroke recovery. Our Here For You service connects stroke survivors and carers to volunteers to help combat isolation and offer peer support. Help rebuild lives and sign up to be a volunteer today. Visit stroke.org.uk/finding-support/here-for-you.

We aren't currently recruiting new volunteers. But if you are interested in volunteering, please keep an eye on the above website in future.