Nightline (student service)
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Nightline is the name given to various confidential overnight listening services run by students for students at UK universities. Individual Nightlines are autonomous organisations, but many choose to affiliate to National Nightline, which is an umbrella organisation founded to facilitate cooperation at a national level.
There are now Nightlines at 48 universities in the UK which are affiliated with National Nightline, as well as several others which are not affiliated. In later years, other universities in Europe, Canada, and the United States also started Nightline services.
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[edit] History
The first Nightline was set up in 1970 at Essex University by a former director of the local Samaritans branch and the university chaplain. The helpline was founded on the understanding that some students would be reluctant to approach outsiders for help and would find it easier to speak to another student. The idea caught on and spread first to Imperial College in London in 1971, and then to many other universities around the UK. During the early 1980s, individual Nightlines started to work together to share skills and ideas, such as publicity, recruitment and training concepts. The umbrella organization National Nightline was founded in 1991 as a formal structure for this work, and represents all affiliated organizations, but has no authority over them. It became a registered charity in early 2006.
National Nightline also hosts an annual conference of member Nightlines every year. Conferences form a primary method of communication within National Nightline, as a means of disseminating vital information and ideas - examples include Lancaster Nightline's conference on training issues (2006) or the Oxford Nightline conferences on abusive callers (2005, 2006, 2007).
[edit] Philosophy
All Nightlines adhere to core principles of anonymity, confidentiality, and non-directionality. A number, though by no means all, choose to formalize them as the 'Five Principles':
- Confidentiality - calls are strictly confidential between Nightline and the caller.
- Anonymity - callers are not required to give any identifying details to the Nightline volunteers taking their calls. Volunteers must also keep their work secret where possible, which often involves not revealing to their peers that they are Nightline volunteers.
- Non-Judgemental - Nightline will not impose any views or prejudices on callers.
- Non-Directional - Nightline will not push callers towards any course of action, but will try to help them come to their own decisions.
- Non-Advisory - Nightline does not give out advice, but will pass on factual, impartial information if appropriate.
[edit] Structure
All Nightlines operate a telephone listening service, some providing separate lines and telephone numbers for listening and for information. Some also offer a 'drop-in' service, where callers can talk to a Nightline volunteer in person. Many Nightlines offer e-listening (contact by email) as an additional means of support. Most recently, some Nightlines have begun offering a confidential online listening service, a confidential text-based one-to-one chat conducted via a secure internet connection. Nightline is one of the first major charities to offer such a service. In addition to the various listening services, some Nightlines supply condoms, pregnancy testing kits, personal attack alarms and women's sanitary products. A few even offer a 'bed for a night' service where students can come to Nightline to sleep, and some offer a camp-bed/mattress hire service for those students with friends visiting.
Nightlines are staffed by student volunteers, who are trained to take calls in accordance with the principles and policies of their organization. Nightline volunteers are not paid for their time, however some Nightlines have paid co-ordinators.
