Nightline provides students with help free of charge, whilst maintaining a strict confidentiality policy, but is it useful as a helpline for students at the University of York?
Arguments could exist stating that the role Nightline plays is unnecessary and is one which YUSU Welfare ought to fulfil. Nightline currently receives just £1,500 funding per year from YUSU, however, they do not have strong affiliations with either the organisation or its Welfare Officer. The roles of these two organisations certainly overlap, and many could consider it a waste of YUSU finances to fund something which could easily be incorporated into its own structure.
Aside from occasionally glancing over the slightly dog-eared posters that sporadically appeared in James College laundry over the course of last year, I have never interacted, or had any involvement, with Nightline. The posters always conjured up images of an agony aunt style phone-in hotline, manned by volunteers who had rarely anything to do other than hand out free condoms to the drunken first years who staggered back to campus after a night out.
Students could not be blamed for thinking that Nightline is a small organisation within the university and for perceiving it as something which could be of little use to the majority of students. When Nightline received more votes than any other organisation, or individual, in the Nouse Top 50, I found that my preconceptions were challenged. If the service is as popular as this suggests, why aren’t the volunteers dancing on the roof of Central Hall shouting out how wonderful and well thought of around campus they actually are? Furthermore, what is the full extent of the work done by its volunteers?
The first thing which attracts my attention during an interview with two regular Nightline volunteers is the incredible effort the team puts in to ensuring the absolute confidentiality of any call or drop in made. The two volunteers I spoke to are anonymous in this article, but they also refused to give me their names in person, off the record, so that they did not compromise the integrity of Nightline’s privacy policy. Nightline has only four public faces which are recognisable to the University’s student body, the rest of the volunteers remain anonymous and will only be identifable to those who have both used the service and spoken to them face to face. Their efforts in maintaining confidentiality are so high that one student who merely went to get take-out menus found the volunteers locking the doors behind them as they entered the flat. In addition, they can’t even give me information about the training procedures that all the volunteers have to go through beyond saying that it occurs over one intensive weekend. Judging by how rigorously my two volunteers are guarding any information which could help identify a caller or another volunteer, one weekend does seem to be enough to convey the importance of this secret service-style security. This makes me wonder just how far this policy of confidentiality stretches, and whether the rules change if a volunteer is told about a crime.
Steve* explains that, “We’re only obligated to tell the police about cases of suspected terrorism or if it’s a child protection issue, otherwise the confidentiality policy still stands.” I admit I’m a little taken aback. Surely student volunteers aren’t expected to handle such heavy issues alone? Steve and Laura* reassure me that all calls or personal visits are handled by both of the volunteers on duty that night and the flat door is locked or the phones are disabled to give each student caller their full attention.
Their enjoyment of the job is obvious. Both agree that “it’s an incredibly rewarding way to volunteer, and a great way of meeting people and making good friends,” although they admit that it is “a long and thankless task.” There are usually between 40 and 70 people volunteering for Nightline at any time throughout the year. While each volunteer is limited to one shift a week- and since a shift consisting of working 12 hours overnight, by the sounds of it they are hard work!
Laura said, “We have on average around six calls a night, and although a typical call lasts around 30 minutes, they can be much longer,” and she informed me that “last year Nightline overall took 23,000 minutes worth of calls,” whilst Steve adds that his “longest call was over four and a half hours long”. I ask him if he finds it difficult to know what kind of advice to give to somebody who he’s essentially known for four hours, and very often for a lot less time than that. Steve tells me, “Nightline volunteers do not advise callers, instead we use a method called ‘active listening.’ This approach allows us to try and help the caller to come to a solution on their own, something which is achieved through asking questions around the issue, encouraging the caller to think about the problem from different points of view and then giving any information that might be wanted or needed.”
The flat is decked out very simply, with two squishy sofas and a LOT of leaflets covering anything from sexual health to dietary information and even careers advice. Laura and Steve stress that Nightline is not just a service which aims to help students who are going through problems and crises, but also those who simply want to find some information about a variety of subjects, or who want something to eat at 1am which they don’t have to either cook for themselves, or leave their flat to get.
One thing which researching this article has definitely made clear is that Nightline is far more than a simple problem solving call centre, it is an extremely important and invaluably useful student service, which is often used and returned to by many students. It is rarely recognised as the popular and far-reaching welfare service that it is because its volunteers wait for those in need of a friendly face to come to them. I think this is what allows for the impression that Nightline is smaller and less useful than it is – this is not an overly advertised organisation, it is a friendly ear rather than a talkative mouth. The dedication of its volunteers is extraordinary, as is the enjoyment they get from helping others. 