Why do you think what Nightline does is so important?

There are so many different types of support at Durham, particularly with our college system, but Nightline offers something different and much-needed.

We'll never try to label what you're feeling, or tell you what you should do. After all, you know yourself better than we ever will. Instead, our volunteers offer a completely non-judgemental ear, for ten hours every night, to any student who wants to get in touch.

Callers can say as much or as little as they like and we want them to feel in control of the conversation.

Friends and family can be great, but sometimes it can be helpful to speak to someone outside of a situation, in the knowledge that it won't go any further.

What inspired you to become a Nightline volunteer?

The honest answer is - I'm not really sure, but I know it's been without a doubt the best thing I've done in my time at university.

I heard about Nightline at the very beginning of my first year and immediately knew it was something I'd like to be involved with. I'd always been interested in mental health, having had personal experience with it, and saw huge value in the unique support that Nightline provided.

I also wanted to be involved with something outside of college and thought I might meet likeminded people there - which I did!

What have you learnt from being part of Nightline?

Before volunteering for Nightline, I think I underestimated the power of patiently and unreservedly being with someone and the difference that offering just your time and full attention to someone can make.

I've learnt not to expect to fully understand how someone is feeling, because the value lies in giving your time and attention and caring enough to try and understand.

Evie

Hello, I’m Evie and I’m a second-year Modern Languages student at St Chad’s College. I’ve been volunteering for Nightline for around a year now and I now sit on the committee as Publicity Officer.

Why do you think what Nightline does is so important?

Nightline offers a unique service which allows students to talk about absolutely anything that is on their mind, without the risk of being judged and without the added concern of worrying others.

Both the caller and volunteer are anonymous and therefore it can often be of comfort to know that the conversation will go no further. Nightline is also hugely important because of the fact that it offers an ‘out-of-hours’ line of support.

Nighttime can often be a difficult time of day - people don’t just struggle between the hours of 9am and 5pm when other support services are open; the lack of distraction at night can make people feel isolated with their thoughts, especially seing as everyone else is asleep.

Nightline, however, is open every night of term to offer an invaluable support for when it may seem that no-one else is there. 

What inspired you to become a Nightline volunteer?

After losing a friend to suicide, I decided that I wanted to volunteer for the Samaritans, but during sixth form, I couldn’t devote the hours that I would have liked to the service.

When I came to Durham and realised that I could volunteer for Nightline, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity.

I had struggled with mental illness for several years and felt that I wanted to put the things that I had learnt from that time to use by helping others in a similar position.

It can be incredibly difficult to open up to a friend or family member, regardless of how good a relationship you have with them and so I really saw the value in the anonymity of the Nightline service and the fact that it offered a line of support during hours of the day in which other services were closed. 

What have you learnt from being part of Nightline?

As obvious as it may seem, being a Nightline volunteer has made me a better listener. I had always thought that I was a fairly good listener, maybe because many friends had chosen to confide in me, however it wasn’t until I became a volunteer that I realised I had probably been doing it all wrong!

I have realised that it isn’t all about trying to ‘resolve’ a problem or show that you fully ‘understand’ how the person is feeling; it is much more important to listen, to let the person speak in their own time and to work through their situation at a pace that is comfortable for them. More often than not, callers have the answers to their doubts inside them but need someone to help them to discover that.

Being a volunteer is a unique opportunity which allows you to be there to support someone who feels that they can’t, at that time, speak to anyone else about what is on their mind - whilst this can be rewarding, it can also be very difficult.

Volunteering really does open your eyes to the fact that so many people mask how they really feel. I definitely appreciate the strength that it takes for many people to ‘put on a front’ each day - not only the callers themselves but also the incredible volunteers who, after spending the night on-call, go to their 9am lectures and return to being anonymous volunteers. 

Why do you think what Nightline does is so important?

Having somebody there to talk to you and listen about whatever is on your mind can be really beneficial, whether you're in a situation of high stress, or if you're just after somebody to chat to!  

But part of what makes Nightline different from other similar services is that we are run entirely by students. Volunteers all know what studying here in Durham is like, and how difficult it can be, so people contacting us know they can talk both freely and informally.

What inspired you to become a Nightline volunteer?

I'll be completely honest here: I signed up for the Nightline training weekend at the end of my first year just as something else to do after my exams!

But over the course of the weekend I really came to appreciate the true value of Nightline and how useful it can be to speak to somebody who is truly listening to you, and not simply trying to solve your problems or tell you what to do, as a friend might.

Seeing just how enthusiastic and friendly the volunteers training me were really made me want to join in, become a part of that community and help make a difference to people.

What have you learnt from being part of Nightline?

Nightline has definitely made me more empathetic. I never noticed just how varied our student population is until I started to take a few calls on shift, and then started to realise that everyone is struggling with something different, even if often you’d never be able to tell they were struggling in real life.

The other great thing about being a volunteer here is that, apart from the obvious listening skills you get to gain, there are also plenty of opportunities to get involved in the running of the organisation. It's definitely not all about the training, publicity and director aspects that we run: there's many more people helping to run the show behind the scenes!