In May 2024, we launched our new partnership with disability charity Sense, to help tackle chronic loneliness experienced by disabled people.
Sense’s Virtual Buddying service matches a volunteer with a disabled person, based on their shared interests, to carry out activities together online. The service was developed in response to the charity’s research, which shows two thirds of disabled people experience chronic loneliness (feeling lonely every day).
Our employees can use their five annual paid volunteering days as part of our Take Five programme to take part in the initiative – creating meaningful and lasting friendships with disabled people experiencing loneliness.
With the programme now up and running, we’re checking in with some of our Virgin Media O2 volunteers and their virtual buddies.
Kathryn Ingram is part of our Sustainability team and joined Sense as a virtual buddying volunteer. Kathryn’s buddy is Sebastian, who has autism and epilepsy. They were matched based on their joint interests of movies and day trips, which Kathryn goes on with her children and Sebastian is supported to go on. 
Kathryn said: “I really liked the idea of building a longer-term relationship to benefit someone over time. I was sent some information about Sebastian which gave me useful insight into him, his likes/dislikes and needs which allowed me to anticipate who I was going to meet with.”
Books were another common interest, and Sebastian loves libraries, so the pair set up their own mini book club. They take it in turns to pick a book which they both read and then discuss on a buddying session. They complete activities together and have found a good balance between chatting and doing. Since they started buddying, Kathryn has seen Sebastian become more comfortable on their sessions, and she has benefitted too.
“Buddying with Sense is definitely one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done”, continued Kathryn, “It’s been great to meet someone that I would not have met under any other circumstance. I’ve learnt so much from him and been so impressed by how he is involved in his community.”
On his relationship with Kathryn, Sebastian says that he enjoys a lot of the same aspects.
Sebastian added: “I love having Kathryn as my buddy. Sense found me the perfect match. She has brilliant ideas. I enjoy hearing about what Kathryn has been up to during the week, hearing about her work, her outings and her family.
“I always look forward to my Friday morning time with Kathryn. Especially when I’ve had a bad week or not been well because of my autism or epilepsy, then it’s so nice to have a friend to talk to. I really like the care home where I live and all the staff and my housemates are amazing, but there’s something special about having someone to spend time with that’s just for me.”
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