About Racing’s ‘Check-in and Chat’ Service
Racing Welfare provides a telephone Check-in and Chat service for anyone in the horseracing community that feels lonely, isolated or simply in need of someone to talk to.
Racing Welfare’s Check-in and Chat service was set up to combat loneliness and social isolation amongst the horseracing community and in 2022 the service facilitated over 283 hours of conversation between racing’s people.
What is Check-in and Chat?
Check-in and Chat is a telephone befriending service, run by Racing Welfare and a team of dedicated and compassionate volunteers.
Upon signing up to the service, individuals will be paired up with a volunteer who will arrange to call on a regular or semi-regular basis for a friendly chat and to make sure the person is OK.
Find out more about how the service works with this Q&A.
Who is the service for?
Check-in and Chat is for anyone who works in or has retired from the Thoroughbred racing industry, including their close dependents.
How does Check-in and Chat help?
Telephone services have been shown to have a positive impact upon participants’ mental well-being. In a report from Befriending Networks, a study including 123 service users showed that 76% of participants felt better about themselves and 71% felt more confident since receiving the calls.
“When you’re a bit low it’s nice to know there’s someone friendly on the end of the phone.” Read Daphne’s full story here.
I’M NOT LONELY, I JUST DON’T SPEAK TO MANY PEOPLE. IT’S NICE TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A CHAT WITH MY BEFRIENDER SHE LISTENS TO ME, AND WE CHAT ABOUT ALL SORTS
How to sign up to Check-in and Chat
If you would like to sign up to our Check-in and Chat service, please call 0800 6300 443.
The service is completely free and fully confidential.
Interested in becoming a Check-in and Chat volunteer?
For Eileen being a volunteer caller is part of her self-care routine:
“It’s so good for me to stop everything and give someone fifteen minutes to chat away about the week. It’s so refreshing. It’s definitely part of my self-care routine. I’m a better listener now.”
Find out more about volunteering here.
In-Person Befriending
In addition to our Check-in and Chat service, we can also offer in-person befriending to those who would benefit the most.
The in-person service is specifically intended for people who perhaps do not leave the house for prolonged periods of time, or for whom a phonecall might not provide enough social interaction. Once a referral is received we work to match beneficiaries with a local volunteer who carries out befriending visits at the person’s home at a mutually convenient time.
To find out more please call 0800 6300 443.
It helped to talk about it and not feel judged.
Jane - Stud Hand
Part-funded by The National Lottery Community Fund
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Racing Welfare’s 24 hour support line enables people to access support and
guidance through digital and telephone options.
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