An Opportunity to Help and to Connect

Lauren (not her real name) walked slowly up the footpath with her sweet little dog sniffing alongside. She was just out for a quick breath of fresh air when she discovered a garage sale I was visiting at her neighbour’s house. 

We got to chatting a bit and it wasn’t long before Lauren shared that she had lost her husband just ten days prior to an aggressive cancer. He had died in his sleep at home and she was the one to discover this the next morning, which was understandably quite traumatic for her.  

I could tell it was helpful for her to talk a bit about her recent experiences, so I listened as she further shared that her husband was truly her soul mate, the two of them enjoyed spending all of their time together and she was now feeling bereft and very lonely as she admitted her close and loving marriage had not really required any other friendships in her life.

Losing a life partner is a major life transition that can put many people at risk of feeling lonely, and I realised this must be even more the case in Lauren’s situation. I expressed my sincere sympathy to her and asked if she might be interested in meeting new people and making connections at a Wellby Talking Café. Her eyes lit up a bit as I explained that Talking Cafés were launched because sometimes circumstances and life events can happen that may leave people feeling like they could use a bit of support to meet new people and connect to their community. It was comforting to her to know that how she was feeling was not at all unusual.

I could feel a sense of relief coming from Lauren as she responded that she would very much enjoy coming along to a Talking Café, so I pulled a Wellby card out of my wallet along with a free drink voucher. I looked up the next Talking Café on my phone and confirmed she was familiar with the location as I jotted down the details for her on the card. 

Lauren stated she would definitely be coming along to the next Talking Café, but even if she didn’t make it on the day I knew she could now find the details about upcoming Talking Cafés herself and attend when she felt ready to do so.

As we parted ways I asked if I could give her a hug, which she happily received. It felt so good being able to help her, and it was so easy to signpost using the training and tools I received from Wellby.