The Living Well Project

The Living Well Project was set up in 2010, with the aim of supporting isolated and vulnerable people in the community of North Aberdeen.

The Living Well Project embraces two strands of care within the community – The Living Well Befriending Service and The Living Well Cafés.

Currently 35 volunteer befrienders visit socially isolated and lonely older people over the age of 65 in their homes in the north of the city.  Volunteers visit weekly to offer friendship and companionship.  And the fourth Living Well Café at High Church Hilton was opened on 31st August 2017 to add to the existing Cafés based at Newhills, Oldmachar and Ferryhill Churches. With each Café running fortnightly, there are two Cafés open each week, on a Tuesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon, wonderfully supported by local volunteers and overseen by paid staff of the Project.  

The Living Well Project (TLWP) was formed as an independent charity in 2010 out of a perceived need within the Newhills community for supporting socially isolated individuals over the age of 65 years. Central to this process was the work and community sensitivity of Newhills Parish Church. As a congregation in Aberdeen, Newhills Church had long been aware of the isolation and loneliness of many of its local residents.

Though various services, organisations and other opportunities to engage were available, not everyone, because of health issues, infirmity, lack of mobility and lack of confidence, was able to engage with these provisions. It became the desire of the church to reach out to those who were unable to access services and social activities. Befriending became a natural outcome and ministry that the church sought to offer. As a church community they believed that they should pursue this separately from their existing church pastoral care to ensure that everyone, whether within or outside the church, knew it was for them.