Helplines

All our helpline services adhere to Telephone Helplines Association quality standards and are recovery focused. A number of our helpline services offer 24 hours, seven days a week access, often working in partnership with local crisis service provision.

Our range of helpline services includes: 

• large 24 hours, seven days a week helpline services, operated by paid staff and covering a number of geographical areas
  
• an Asian Mental Health Helpline Service which provides a culturally sensitive service for the Asian community. The service offers access to information and support in Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English
  
• innovative 24 hours, seven days a week helpline services that in some cases are directly linked to crisis accommodation and are working in partnership with local Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams

As a member of the Mental Health Helplines Partnership between mental health helpline providers, all our helpline services are freephone. We are also working towards having RNID Typetalk and we have access to Language Line.

All our helpline staff are provided with training which meets Telephone Helplines Association quality standards. This is checked by external audits as well as by our own Quality Assurance Programme.

In 2005/2006 our helpline services received over 79,000 calls and emails. Despite this success we are committed to constantly reviewing and increasing access to our helpline services and are undertaking an innovative project to electronically link them using call re-routing. This project is funded by the Department of Health and is overseen by the National Institute for Mental Health in England and the Mental Health Helplines Partnership.

Our award-winning report Do Helplines Help? summarises research carried out among people using two of our large 24 hours, seven days a week helpline services, statutory agencies and commissioners. The research showed that these services offer invaluable support, reduce anxiety and help callers feel more in control and less isolated. The research was funded by the National Institute for Mental Health in England and the Do Helplines Help? summary is available to download.

The report also showed how these helpline services benefit statutory crisis services.

“One woman’s typical route was to use A&E in a crisis in the early hours of the morning where she would be seen by inexperienced junior doctors who would admit her. Now she feels able to phone Lincsline instead and her use of A&E has reduced.” Member of a Community Team

We will continue to develop new helpline services and promote the principle that all people with mental health problems should have access to helpline services, no matter where they live.

What people say about our helpline services

In a survey of people that use our services carried out by our Research Team, 91 per cent of people using our helpline services feel they are benefiting from the service that they use with 96 per cent having trust and confidence in staff and volunteers.