The Listening Place’s (TLP) mission is to provide those who feel life is no longer worth living with a safe place to come and talk freely and confidentially to warm, non-judgemental volunteers who are willing to engage with their feelings and support them through their darkest times.
In May 2019, TLP was awarded a £5,000 grant towards core costs. At the time we were still a very small charity with only a couple of staff members and quite limited capacity. Thanks to the grant from The Pixel Fund, we were able to respond when the demand for our service grew rapidly. Indeed as word spread in 2019, we saw on average an additional 90 new referrals each month compared to the previous year.
The grant ensured we retained our small charity values of compassion and warmth while building a team and infrastructure that could go from supporting 1000 to 2000 suicidal people in one year. Funding covered essential costs such as regulatory checks for volunteers (we trained 221 new volunteers during the grant period) and the recruitment of new Visitor Support Coordinators to process the additional referrals.
We were also able to rely on our Pro-bono team of Consultant Clinical Psychologist Dr Sarah Davidson MBE and Professor Stephen Platt, Emeritus Professor of Health Policy Research at the University of Edinburgh to provide reliable impact data. Using the clinically recognised Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, we were able to determine that Visitors to TLP experience highly significant decreases in distress and suicidality after 5 months of using our service. This outstanding volunteer contribution in the mental health sector was recognised at the UK Third Sector Awards where The Listening Place won Volunteer Team of the Year and was also nominated for Small Charity of the Year.
Towards the end of the grant period, the Covid-19 pandemic struck and social distancing measures were introduced. The pandemic undoubtedly shook the sector and its impact upon income especially, is perhaps yet to be fully felt. We were fortunate that unrestricted funding such as our grant from The Pixel Fund gave us the financial flexibility to ride out lockdown. Nonetheless, Covid-19 obviously impacted on how we work. We had to take a choice quickly to ensure that we could be there for the people that needed us.
In a matter of days, we transitioned to a 100% telephone-based service. We continue to offer ongoing, confidential support from the same volunteer for people who are feeling suicidal and since the crisis began, we have accepted almost 750 referrals and we are supporting 700 suicidal individuals at any one time. We are also offering support for up to 300 NHS and frontline care staff per week.
We’re already exploring how our service will adapt as lockdown is eased and it is expected that we will begin by running a hybrid service, with those volunteers who are able to come in without public transport delivering face-to-face sessions while visitors who prefer phone sessions, continuing to receive that support. Our strategy will move in line with government policy and will balance the most responsible with the most effective way of delivering our service.
It’s been an incredibly busy and even turbulent year. The number of people supported is certainly a success but we have mixed feelings when we see this rise in demand. On the one hand, we are reaching more people than ever, on the other it is tragic that so many people feel that their life is no longer worth living. Thankfully, support from The Pixel Fund has allowed us to offer these people the space, time and freedom to share their pain, explore their options and hopefully make a different decision in their darkest time.
On behalf of The Listening Place