Nightline is a student led listening service, ran by students for students. The organisation is completely anonymous, non-judgmental, non directional and non-advisory. They can be reached every Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout the term 8pm-8am. You can call Nightline to have a completely anonymous chat over the phone on 01509 227 650 or simply email: [email protected] if you’re feeling anxious, down, worried or just want to get something off your chest. Loughborough Nightline are firm believers that often the first step to acknowledging your issues or whatever you may be going through, and beginning to help yourself is talking- which is where Nightline can help.
This Monday, Nightline are launching their Awareness Week from 16th-22nd November. They’ll be spreading the word about the importance of this great cause and emphasising that they are here for every single student. Make sure to keep your eye out over social media, using the hashtag #IAmFeeling to get involved!
Nightline has no way to trace any numbers or emails, and the volunteers remain completely anonymous and have all undergone intense training in order to become a call-taking volunteer. They also have ‘forward facing’ volunteers. They don’t work directly with phone calls or emails, but publicise Nightline and organise everything from the behind-the-scenes and general running of the service. Their publicity team is soon to be fully trained and will have some new and exciting campaign projects on the way!
Nightline are also currently working on some campaigns with some of the other subsections within Welfare and Diversity. These include the Women’s Network and a huge focus on the stigma of mental health: the service provides help and support to absolutely anyone in need, regardless of their mental wellbeing. Nightline are here if you want to chat for anything! Walking home alone in the dark, waiting for your pizza or even a simple revision break. Equally, anything which may include mental health concerns or sexual identity problems – Nightline are there for you and to listen to whatever is on people’s minds. ‘We’ll listen not lecture’.
Loughborough Nightline is part of the Nightline Association, a charity that supports all the branches across different universities. Currently, there are 36 Nightlines over 90 universities and colleges and Nightline is available to over 1.5. million students nationwide. Originally, the organisation was set up in 1970 at Essex university to tackle the rising student suicide rate. Nightline is largely here, because there is no other service that is available throughout the night, and research provided by Nightline highlighted that 75% of the student population suffered from psychological distress within 2013 and 1/3 of these students reported it happened in the night. So it’s all about being there for everyone, at a time when the service often most needed, and there’s no where really to go.
If you’re interested in being a part of Nightline, they are always looking for more people to join their publicity team – a fantastic experience to add to anyone’s CV. Got any questions? Drop the team an email via [email protected] and you’ll be sure to have any queries answered! Nightline will be recruiting more call-taking volunteers on board next semester, so ensure to stay updated via their Facebook page for announcements of when the applications go live.
Don’t forget to get involved next week from 16th-22nd November to discover all of the great opportunities and services Nightline offer! ‘#IAmFeeling
