Volunteers providing "crucial" out of hours helpline in South Cumbria
There has been a rise in calls to the wellbeing and texting service
We're hearing how volunteers are providing a "crucial" support service for people struggling with the mental health in South Cumbria.
Lancaster and South Cumbria Foundation Trust offers a phone and text based wellbeing out of hours helpline.
Manager Lorraine Khalaf says she's incredibly proud of her team: "All our volunteers are incredible, you know to give your time up to support others, I think is amazing. It just shows the care and compassion that volunteers do have and do give to our organisation and to our communities."
"We have people ranging from 18 who are at University to people in their 80s and 90s. We have Mums that are full time Mums, we have carers, we have barristers, people that work for the Civil Service, psychology graduates, psychologists and people that have lived experience and feel that they want to give time back."
She has been telling us how there has been a rise in the number of requests they are getting:
"Particularly in the younger generation, they are reaching out via text and what we find with our texting service is that it may start off as a text conversation but if we have concerns it'll turn into a telephone conversation. We will speak to that person to check that they are ok and see if we need to transfer them to any other service."
You can find out more about the service here