- Befriending in Dumfries & Galloway -
ELVES Community Interest company (CIC)
We are a Social Enterprise that aims to solve social issues, rather than making a profit.
We work as a consortium of socially driven services and are currently testing and developing new innovative ways to address social isolation issues towards helping people live well at home for longer.
We are also currently establishing a warm, welcoming and accessible volunteer facility at the Crichton, Dumfries to support people of all ages and backgrounds to be part of our exciting pilot work offering new bespoke services to address issues specific to the challenges we see emerging in Dumfries & Galloway.
Garden Assistance service
We are testing and developing a garden support service for people who are vulnerable, living alone, have a disability, are recovering from surgery or just temporarily struggling with their garden due to health issues.
Our service is being developed to train people in Dumfries from school-leaving age in both garden skills and befriending. We understand that overgrown gardens can cause multiple stresses upon a resident however we also understand that a gardener can also offer a highly impactful check-in service towards alleviating social isolation and preventing harm.
Sunshine Service
Our phone-call service is due to launch in 2026 for people across the region so that we can offer friendly regular calls to people who are experiencing social isolation. We are testing some exciting concepts towards offering a unique and positive service with support of our partners, collaborations and our own ongoing research.
Mi-Home-Guard Service
Currently being tested alongside the sunshine service is a new low-cost, passively-operating and un-intrusive home monitoring system. This is aimed and offering a practical and secure data-tunnel of environmental factors at home to check for movement, temperature, light and door openings.
The system is being developed to incorporate alert functions towards preventing hospital admissions and become part of a home care package for people living alone.
