Chain Reaction is a service that supports older people (55+) to live independently in the community. KeyRing was instrumental in designing it and is one of three partners delivering it across Newcastle.

KeyRing believes that everyone has the right to be respected as full members of their community and to contribute to that community. That right does not diminish as people get older, but people may start to need some support in order to maintain it. We believe that a shrinking social circle is not an inevitable part of ageing and that low level support to maintain connections to friends and to the local community helps prevents loneliness and poor health.

Whilst traditional approaches to supporting older people have focused on specialised day services that group all ‘older people’ together and provide them with ‘older people’s activities’, KeyRing’s approach promotes the use of community-based resources and facilities, helping people get involved with what is already available. In doing so it supports and sustains natural friendships and develops new ones, warding off loneliness and social isolation and creating happier communities.

Whilst traditional approaches might keep people safe, they fail to address people’s individual needs and wishes and ignore the skills and talents they have that could be of great benefit to others. Like all our services, Chain Reaction’s support is flexible and personalised and looks at what each person can contribute as well as what they need support with.

As well as improving emotional wellbeing this type of support helps people to maintain their physical health. On a practical Chain Reaction can provide support with things like healthy eating or staying safe in the home.

As well as positive personal outcomes, strong social networks and support to stay healthy at home have a preventative effect – people are less likely to become ill, have an accident, or fall into a crisis. By providing this support to people who are not otherwise eligible for social care we prevent avoidable suffering on their part and reduce costs to the public purse.

What does the support include?

1. One-to-one personalised support with things like health, budgeting, dealing with correspondence, domestic skills, just getting to know someone.

2. Connecting people to their community, including help to get out and do the shopping, finding out what’s going on in the community and local area and help to reconnect or get involved with local groups and activities.

3. Connecting people to others and creating a network of natural support

We want to help to prevent people feeling lonely by:

• having some support to come to groups and meeting new people
• making new friends, or reconnecting with family or old friends connecting with people who have shared interests

There are 2 levels of support:

2. We also support people on a one to one basis to access the community and get involved in groups outside the home. We can help with things like dealing with post and making phone calls. There is a cost to this service. 

Chain Reaction now delivers the Lunch Links service in the East of Newcastle. This provides a wide range of opportunities for fun, friendship, food, shopping trips, and excursions close to where people live, giving them the chance to meet up with friends and make new ones.

For more information about the project have a look at the Chain Reaction website. 

For more information please contact Catriona Huck on 07917 686658 or email catriona.huck@keyring.org. 

Newcastle Networks

Our networks in Newcastle started long ago in 2001 so we've been around for a long time in the North East!

We have 2 Newcastle networks, situated in East and West of the city; these are traditional networks offering support to vulnerable people to be part of their community and make connections with other KeyRing Members. One of our Community Living Volunteers in Newcastle has been supporting her network since 2006 - a fantastic commitment!

We have a room in a community building in the middle of Newcastle and each week we hold two drop-in sessions for everyone across all of our networks to access. This has been a really positive way of bringing people together and has given people the opportunity to share ideas, learn new things and build friendships. Members do lots of social things together and have stronger relationships since we started the drop-in sessions.

Some of our Members set up a group called Tyneside Active Members Organisation a few years ago. This group is member-led and is about finding opportunities to learn new things and have new experiences. Since starting the group people have been on holiday together twice and work together to plan local trips to places of interest around the North East.

The networks are funded by the local authority of Newcastle.

For more information or to refer to us, please contact Catriona Huck on 07917 686658 or email catriona.huck@keyring.org.