Hello! I'm Lauren, I founded my first business Farrow Friends in 2017 at the age of 21, with the support of the Prince's Trust mentorship program after struggling with some health battles. You may have seen some of my work on the BBC and local newspapers. It's always been a huge importance to me to provide services that focus on helping people to get the best out of life. That's why, in  December 2023 I launched Virtual Care and Companionship which helps support people online to be a 'a friend at the other end', a service where we ring and check in and offer practical support over the phone and through 1:1 video calls allowing us to reach people wanting a little extra support country-wide.

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It was important to me to start this service because I found that on many occasions when I was supporting people through Farrow Friends that so many providers have now moved their services almost exclusively online that it felt near impossible to get hold of providers on the phone. To someone struggling with dementia, or for any other reason isn't confident in IT it can be both emotionally overwhelming, frustrating and just completely inaccessible to do certain tasks that were once as simple as making a phone call. Additionally in the gaps between care calls and family visits, people can often find themselves sitting in the quiet without meaningful conversation for long periods of time which can lead to loneliness and impact on mental wellbeing. VCC allows us to offer befriending calls and frequent check-in's so that we can provide that meaningful connection and support.