Sydney
25 May 2003
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‘Good morning ... welcome to Crossroads’
Pockets of ‘very deep poverty’ - Tim Fischer launches Vinnies Winter Appeal
Time, place right for launch, to be sure, to be sure
Exploring faith at Branches
Young need education on media: Br Kelvin
‘Advocate for poor’
Pope honours Sir William, Lady Deane
Sculpture tribute to nuns
Inside the Inquisition archives
Edmund Rice superannuation forum
Bishops focus on asylum seekers, racism
Leagues club buys dignity for destitute
Catholic University produces second Bible aid in Chinese
Caritas calling: Uganda needs help
Spirituality and suicide
Casimir, De La Salle quick to respond
Yell! For fresh tunes
Editorial: Without fear or favour
Letters: Depth of understanding
Conversation: Molly Griffiths - retiree and Compeer volunteer - Sunday outings, music ... that’s what friends are for
A call for volunteers
What the single life can teach us
Serra clubs ‘foster spiritual growth’
Obituary: Trangie’s priest was ordained ‘to serve all God’s people’
Celebrating 200 years of Mass appeal
The Rosary - ‘a treasure to be rediscovered’
Scalabrinians choose new leaders
Media studies ‘can play a major role’
Conversation: Molly Griffiths - retiree and Compeer volunteer - Sunday outings, music ... that’s what friends are for
By Chris Lindsay
Retired schoolteacher Molly Griffiths (pictured) took her friend to Taronga Zoo for an outing on one Sunday.
Nothing unusual about that, except that Molly’s friend suffers from a long termmental illness, and the visit was part of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Compeer support program which provides friends like Molly for people who suffer from such illnesses.
The zoo trip was part of Compeer Friendship Week.
Molly is not a health professional; nor is she a counsellor.
Instead she does just what friends do; offers support, a friendly ear to listen and someone to be with - someone to make sociable occasions so much more pleasant and enjoyable.
Molly was a school teacher-counsellor until she retired in 1996.
She took a year off, then became involved in Compeer in 1998 when she was looking to do something in the mental illness area.
Compeer is a non-profit ‘befriending’ program that matches trained volunteers in one-to-one friendship relationships with adults of the same sex who are living with or recovering from a mental health problem and have been referred by a health professional.
She was already a friend of Sr Myree Harris, of the Sisters of St Joseph, who began Compeer in Australia.
Sr Myree had heard of the existence of Compeer in the US, so she went there to see how it worked.
She set up a branch in Australia in the mid-1990s.
“When I first joined I had to be screened, and got some training - we were given some background in mental illness,” Molly said.
“Then we were given profiles of some people who their health carers thought would benefit from having a ‘friend’.
“The woman I chose was living in a retirement village and had a long history of chronic mental illness. She was a fair bit younger than the other people in the village and felt isolated at times.
“She has had a mental illness over many years and it has been a longstanding struggle.
“As her ‘friend’ I give her company and bring her out of herself a little more.”
It took time for the two women to find out what they would like to do together. As with all friendships it grew slowly as they got to know each other.
“She is a year younger than me so we share common interests,” Molly said.
“It said in the profile that she wanted someone with a Christian background. She is not Catholic herself, but we have similar values.
“We decided to go for coffee and to talk once a week, where she has someone to listen to her.
“We do what friends do. We send each other Christmas and birthday cards and we go window shopping together.
“I also ring her up about once a week. We have gone to the movies and soon we are going to the Art Gallery.
“My friend loves music and I bring her tapes.
“I think the social outings have helped her. She told me that before we met she was hospitalised a lot more than she is now.
“She has been in hospital twice since we met, once when she had a toxic build up of her medication and once for fluid on the lung.
“I can’t say she is ‘better’- she is chronically ill - but I think our friendship has added another dimension to her life. She has opened up a lot as time goes on and trust has grown between us.
“Compeer also gives talks and dinners and she goes to them, which have broadened her.
“It is a mutual thing; I get as much out of it as she does.
“It gives me a sense of making a difference, even if it is to only one person’s life. I am now more understanding of mental illness and grateful for my own health in that regard.
“She is part of my life now, she is a friend.”
Molly says a lot of the Compeer volunteers are younger people and there are regular meetings where peer support is offered.
“Of course, there has to be confidentiality, but we can raise issues among ourselves to seek advice,” she said.
She says a doctor gave them a talk on medication for people with mental illness which was very helpful. Volunteers also have to do a course on suicide.
“I speak to the co-ordinator when necessary if I have a problem, such as if I think the medication might be getting a bit too overpowering for my friend,” Molly said. “She might advise me to speak to the person in charge of the nursing home.”
Molly said she would encourage people to get involved with a group like Compeer if they have the time and the desire to do so.
“We need a lot more volunteers,” she said. “I am glad I did it - it is not a chore.”
Molly says that dealing with one person for Compeer is enough for her: “I am also a member of the St Vincent de Paul Parramatta conference and that also keeps me busy.”