Interested in becoming a volunteer?
All of our volunteers are Durham students, coming a variety of different backgrounds. No previous experience is necessary to become a volunteer with Nightline.
We welcome volunteering applications from all Durham students.
What’s involved?
As a volunteer, you’d have the opportunity to carry out shifts from 9pm-7am, helping to staff our phone and instant messaging services throughout the night. You’d be one of two people on shift, and up to six volunteers in total who help run the service each night, so you’ll never be without support.
As a volunteer, you also have the opportunity to become involved in the delivery of our active listening training, and in the wider running of Nightline by becoming a part of our Executive Committee.
Why volunteer for Nightline?
Volunteering for Nightline can be a hugely rewarding experience and is an opportunity to give back to the Durham student community. You’ll also learn valuable skills that can help you more generally in life. Here’s what some of our volunteers said about their volunteering experience:
Nightline was something that could really make an impact, and being a volunteer meant that I had the opportunity to make a meaningful difference.
I think that if you see a cause and view it as genuinely worthwhile, it makes sense that you try to further it, if you feel that you can. That was my original motivation, and it’s given me more than I could’ve expected.
Being there for callers who may have no one else to turn to is a privilege and I wanted to offer people the kind of support that I would have wanted in the past.
Nightline has given me so many skills, such as building relationships in stressful situations and giving people space to talk.
I also loved the sense of community and support that came from the other volunteers.
Becoming a Volunteer
How do I become a volunteer?
In order to become a volunteer, you’ll need to attend all 3 days of our termly active listening training. This training takes place in October, January and June and the sign up usually opens 3-4 weeks before it takes place. If the sign up is not currently open, you can join our mailing list, which means we will email you as soon as the sign up opens.
All Durham students are welcome to attend our training, regardless of whether you’re considering volunteering or not.
Following the 3 days of training, there’ll be further one-on-one training with a Nightline trainer and a selection process, so we can ensure that you’re ready to answer calls and instant messages.
What’s involved in the training?
The training consists of both large group talks and smaller group sessions, covering:
- Nightline’s 5 principles
- The foundations of active listening
- Active listening techniques
- Self-care and boundary setting
- Talks on specific topics that callers may contact about, including identity, sexual violence, self-harm and suicide
The training also provides the opportunity to practice call-taking through roleplays.
Volunteering FAQs
First you’ll need to sign up to attend our termly active listening training. This training happens in October, January and June and the sign up usually opens around 3-4 weeks before it takes place.
You’ll need to attend all 3 days of the training, and at the end sign up to the becoming a volunteer process, which involves further one-on-one training with Nightline trainers.
We ask that our volunteers complete at least two overnight shifts per term, but many volunteers choose to do more than that, and there is also flexibility to do less if you are in a position where you need to take a break from volunteering.
We also have structures in place to protect your wellbeing as a volunteer and prevent you from committing too much time, including minimum gaps between shifts.
We welcome volunteering applications from all Durham students! You do not need any previous experience to volunteer for Nightline.
Due to the nature of our service, you must be able to speak fluent English in order to volunteer.
Yes! It’s really important to us that all of our volunteers feel prepared to answer calls and instant messages, so we aim to provide thorough and in-depth training to all of our volunteers.
Following the 3 days of training, there will be further one-on-one training with a Nightline volunteer to help us ensure that you are ready and confident to answer calls.
We aim to accept as many volunteering applications as possible, but unfortunately we aren’t able to accept all applicants as volunteers.
We may be unable to accept some applications, as have a duty of care both to prospective volunteers and our callers to ensure that every volunteer is ready and confident to answer calls using active listening techniques and Nightline policies, and that volunteering would not put them or callers at risk.
We welcome all volunteering applications, as long as volunteering would not put you at risk and you feel capable to answer calls and instant messages, given the potential heavy nature of topics received.
Our volunteer training provides more coverage and training on the topics you may encounter.
We also ask applicants to disclose if you have experienced any serious or acute mental health difficulties in the last 6 months. This is based on advice from the Helplines Partnership. This will not prevent you from volunteering and each application is treated on a case-by-case basis; your application would be referred to our Safeguarding Lead, who will discuss your situation to ensure that volunteering does not pose a risk to you.
Absolutely! Active listening techniques are equally effective when performed by neurotypical and neurodivergent volunteers. For our training, you’re able to indicate any accessibility needs on the sign up form, and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.
Content warnings will be provided for each talk and group session of our training, and you will have the ability to opt out of specific content that may be triggering for you.
We encourage prospective volunteers to discuss with us any triggers that may put them at risk whilst volunteering during the recruitment process.
We welcome all volunteers as long as they feel they are capable to do an overnight shift. If this is likely to be challenging for you, we are able to discuss potential accommodations on a case-by-case basis.
For our training, you’re able to indicate any accessibility needs on the sign up form, and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.
You will learn more about accessibility for volunteers during the training, but in general, we aim to be accessible for as many people as possible and are happy to discuss additional accommodations.
We understand the level of commitment we ask our volunteers to make, and we therefore allow flexibility for volunteers to take a break from volunteering for as long as they need.
Volunteers also have access to internal support structures within Nightline, and to services such as the university counselling service if they feel it would help.
