Nightline volunteers
Nightline volunteers provide a confidential, non-judgemental listening and information service to support fellow students.
Volunteering for Nightline gives the opportunity to develop the following Common Good attributes:
- Confidence
- Responsible leadership
What’s involved?
Glasgow Students’ Nightline (GSN) is a confidential telephone and online listening and information service run by trained student volunteers for students.
GSN is a joint project between GCU Students’ Association, Strathclyde Union and the University of Glasgow Students’ Representative Council and is run with support from all three by a committee of student volunteer officers.
GSN is available Monday-Friday, from 7pm to 7am during term time and can be contacted by phone (0141 334 9516), or online for chat service via the Nightline website.
Volunteers are asked to commit to volunteering for a minimum of two trimesters (excluding summer when the service is closed) and to undertake one overnight shift per two weeks in the Nightline office in the west end of Glasgow.
How will participating in this activity/opportunity allow students to make a positive difference in the communities that we serve?
Students volunteering for Nightline provide a crucial overnight support service for their fellow students when other university services are closed.
Being there to listen and provide information without judgement or directive advice-giving and allowing a confidential and anonymous space for students to talk through personal, academic or any other worries or issues that are impacting them is of huge benefit to individual callers and to the student bodies of the three institutions as a whole.
Knowing that there are empathetic, supportive peers waiting to provide a listening ear is a safety net for all students at the three universities.
In being part of this service, volunteers are investing and helping with the mental health and wellbeing of their peers at a time when many other services are closed, and they may otherwise have no one to turn to.
What are the benefits of taking part in this activity/opportunity for participating students?
Participating students gain valuable transferable skills and experience in providing an active listening, confidential and supportive service – excellent for any CV. Those volunteers who decide to run for committee roles will also gain excellent experience in planning and running a service.
During training and volunteering, they will increase their self-awareness and empathy and meet and get to know new fellow recruits and volunteers as well as form a supportive community – this role involves being anonymous. Hence, volunteers must support one another.
Volunteers are offered a reference once they have completed their two trimesters of volunteering.
At GCU, volunteers are eligible for GCU Students’ Association Star Awards (including Nightline Volunteer of the Year) and the Student Leaders Programme.
How can students get involved in this activity?
Volunteers are recruited from GCU, Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow in September and January each year. Applicants are selected by the GSN committee via an application form and then an interview process.
Our volunteer training typically runs every October and February and takes place over multiple sessions spread out across two weeks. The dates will be updated as soon as applications open so that you have time to organise time off. Attendance at these training sessions is a requirement - you cannot become a Nightline volunteer without attending all of them.
The training is quite intense and interactive – you will get plenty of opportunities to get to know one another and learn about the practice of valuable active listening skills. Is it essential that trainees attend all of the training sessions in order to complete the training, as well as undertaking an assessed skills practice afterwards before they become a Nightline volunteer and start signing up for shifts.
For more info and to apply go to the volunteering page of the Nightline website.