College Student Volunteers Needed to Virtually Connect with Isolated Older Adults

For just 1-2 hours a week, you can gain experience and impact a life!

Connection is something we all seek, and for socially isolated older adults, connection has the power to improve their overall health and well-being. achi works with insurance companies and individuals on a multigenerational program that pairs socially isolated older adults with young adults for continuous enriching conversations, allowing the older adults to reminisce on their life, impart wisdom, and most importantly build meaningful relationships.

Our program will equip students with training focused on communication styles with older adults, Reminiscence Therapy, and coaching on how to evoke meaningful stories from the older adult - teaching students to engage with the older adult as a human being, and the importance of building a relationship and meeting someone where they are.

We are looking for 30-50 students to participate in the program. Participating students will connect weekly with an older adult via phone or virtual platform for 8-10 weeks).

All phone sessions will be conducted through achi’s contact center system and students will log in to the contact center system to perform their sessions, providing a secure and consistent connection method for every call. All calls will be recorded for quality assurance.

All participating students are required to complete and submit post-session reflection prompts describing their sessions with their older adult and the stories discussed. These submissions will be utilized in the creation of a book for the older adult that will be gifted to them at the end of the program.

Our team will train students using program-specific curriculum and will be available for continuous support throughout the program. Students will gain:

· Communication skills that span across generations

· Confidence in engaging with individuals in a virtual setting

· Relationship building skills

· Knowledge in Reminiscence Therapy

· Experience in conversation initiation and evoking storytelling

This program will utilize a contact center for all calls and virtual connections made. Participating students should be comfortable making phone calls and/or be able to join virtual calls using a device with a camera for video.