Crucial calls that help with a 'tsunami of emotions'

Social enterprise Lifelink has delivered more than 1,000 telephone sessions to existing and new clients since the coronavirus lockdown – including 250 with young people.

They say the number of referrals has not increased “dramatically” but do expect it to rise.

Normally, clients would attend Lifelink venues and young people would attend counselling sessions at schools, but an entire team of more than 70 counsellors, therapists, and support staff have been moved online to continue providing support.

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Jacqui Taylor, chief executive of Lifelink, said: “We know how important our service is to people who are struggling with their mental health, and there was no way we weren’t going to do everything possible to make sure we could continue to provide that service under the current restrictions.

“For the most part, we’re delivering counselling via telephone sessions but we’re working to expand the option for video sessions to all clients over the coming weeks.

“We’re still in the early days of this pandemic and we don’t know what the lasting effects of the current lockdown will be, but we do know from speaking to existing clients that people are struggling with a tsunami of emotions caused by the sudden upheaval that we find ourselves living through.

“With social distancing in place some of our clients might be going all week without really having a conversation with anyone other than the hour they spend with a Lifelink therapist - for these clients that call truly becomes a lifeline, in some cases the difference between life and death.

“The number of new referrals we’ve seen over the last fortnight hasn’t increased dramatically, but this feels like the calm before the storm, and we do expect to the see the number of new referrals start to increase more rapidly the longer lockdown goes on for.”

For more information, visit lifelink.org.uk or call 0141 552 4434.