Welcome!

Are you currently struggling to stay socially connected during the COVID-19 lockdown, and would like someone to talk to?

We are a group of Victoria-based medical students who started Conversation in Isolation to help support Australians who are at risk of loneliness and social isolation during the COVID-19 crisis. You sign up, and we match you with a student volunteer to be your ongoing telephone supporter. They’ll find a time that suits you, and call every so often to say hi, have a friendly chat, and lend an ear to whatever’s on your mind.

If you or a friend/family member would like a friendly chat to pass the time, we’re here for you! Currently, we have students capable of fluently conversing in languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Sinhalese, Burmese, Vietnamese, Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, French, Thai, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Gujarati, German, Spanish, Tamil, Malayalam, and the list goes on!

Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I hope that you are all doing well in these unprecedented times.

We are medical students at Monash University. We’re reaching out on behalf of a student-led volunteer initiative, Conversation In Isolation. We are a group of university students who are hoping to use our time during this state-wide lockdown to support those in our community who are at risk of loneliness through regular telephone calls. This will all be free-of-charge of course.

We have recruited over 100 volunteers across Melbourne and the list is growing! Our volunteers are mostly Monash medical students with valid Working With Children Checks and Fit2Work Police Checks and have undergone phone training for their role. Our small management team will match up each community member to a student who will be their ongoing telephone supporter.

We strongly believe that Conversation in Isolation would benefit members of your community. Our volunteers are diverse in language, cultural background and religious beliefs, and many of them have expressed that they are happy to converse in a language other than English with members of the community. Currently, we have students capable of fluently conversing in languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Sinhalese, Burmese, Vietnamese, Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, French, Thai, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Gujarati, German, Spanish, Tamil, Malayalam, and the list goes on!

Advertising this opportunity to our fellow students is not a problem, but we are seeking your help to raise awareness amongst the multicultural community! We would greatly appreciate it if you could share our details with members of your community, allowing those who are interested to get in contact with us.

Community members can reach us by:

Website: https://conversationinisolation.blogspot.com/

Google form to sign up: tiny.cc/convoiniso

Email: conversationinisolation@gmail.com

Facebook page: Conversation In Isolation

Phone: 0492 837 888

Conversation in Isolation

	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District acknowledges the Yorta Yorta People of the land which comprises the Goulburn Valley. We pay respect to tribal Elders, past, present and emerging and we celebrate their continuing culture and acknowledge the memory of their ancestors.
	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District is a peak body whose mission is to promote and represent the social, cultural and economic well-being of ethnic communities in the Goulburn Valley Region through the provision of quality and innovative settlement, refugee support, community development, and information and advocacy services.