Digi Friends

Our free Digi Friends service offers personalised support for people to improve their digital skills and knowledge. We’ve worked with people to use devices and the internet, contact family and friends, gain experience for employment, improve their confidence, and more!

Since October 2021, our amazing volunteers and Digi Friends team have offered 15 drop-in sessionsin our local communities and extra-care schemes. They have also provided…

0 one-to-one sessions

“I have been able to do more with the support group that I’m part of, and I’ve been able to join in with some sessions online. I’ve got where I wanted to be with shopping and using the tablet. I’m more confident, and my Digi Friend was really patient.”

“I prefer doing things one-to-one, because if it was a group I would probably not have come because I’d have felt embarrassed and I wouldn’t want to ask questions. That is an important thing for me.”

“There are still things I want to learn. You know the saying, ‘the more you learn the more you realise you don’t know!’ I am not as nervous as I used to be, I’m more confident all round. I feel much more in control of things than I did before.”

“Volunteering with Digi Friends is a wonderful experience. It hasn’t only been about digital skills, but learning to teach someone with a very different level of experience to me. Both of us have to be patient with one another as we figure things out together and the result is a genuine human connection with someone I never would otherwise have met.”

“It’s been a great experience, practicing English, and feeling connected to the local community”

“I have enjoyed helping others! Using my skills and knowledge of technology and software to increase the confidence of those less sure of these things… can really open up another world for people to explore and benefit from.”

Our report shares more about our Digi Friends service, what we’ve learned so far, and our plans for the future. Thanks again to all our brilliant Digi Friends volunteers and participants!

Read the report

If you’d like to volunteer as a Digi Friend, you can apply here. Or, if you’d like to find out more about getting involved as a volunteer or participant, you can contact Lucy on l.smith2@syha.co.uk or call 07800 996 958.

New repairs features on our online customer services

On our online services, our customers can now tell us about repairs, submit a request for issues to be fixed, and find other helpful information about keeping their home safe and secure.

Our customers told us that finding out more about repairs, and letting us know about any issues, was important. They also said that they wanted to be able to do this quickly, and at times that suited them. Thank you everyone that shared their feedback – it meant that we prioritised the development of these new features.

South Yorkshire Housing Association customers can sign up to our online customer services for free – just create an account, and then you’ll be able to pay your rent, view your balance, access our new repairs features, and more.