Disclaimer: at the time of publication, Nottingham Nightline will be closed due to the
Christmas Holidays. It will start running again when the semester begins again in
January.
Nightline is a confidential, anonymous, term time run listening service run by
students for students at 31 Universities across the UK. I was lucky enough to
interview Rosie Hatherley, who is the Marketing Officer for Nottingham Nightline,
which means she doesn’t volunteer anymore but she was a listening volunteer last
year. In Rosie’s words, her role on the committee is to ‘basically run the nightline
socials, particularly the Instagram page’ which gives us vital skills in advertising,
something that she loves and is ‘a lot of fun’ and allows her to be ‘really creative.’ To
view Rosie’s work, take a look at the @nottinghamnightline Instagram page.
When asked why she started volunteering at Nightline, she says ‘personally, I think it
was a lot of reasons. I think I had a desire to find my society and meet friends
through it.’ She also describes having a desire ‘to help people and to talk to people
about their problems, especially as [she] knows not everyone has someone to talk
to.’ In regard to nightline in particular, Rosie says that she “definitely knows the
feeling of lying awake at night with her problems, and even though I does have
people to talk to, I know how freeing it is to get her problems out to someone who
doesn’t know me so I can sleep, especially as I am an insomniac”.
So, what is nightline?
In her words, Nightline is a student run listening service which is run by students at
the University of Nottingham and for students there, open every night from 7pm –
8am. Rosie describes it as “basically a completely confidential venting service.” They
are completely anonymous, so even though it’s for students by students, you will
never know who you’re talking to, they will never ask for your name or any other
personal information. She affirms that ‘we don’t offer advice or options as well, so
we’re just here to listen and validate what you’re saying.’
Why is talking to nightline important?
In Rosie’s opinion, this essentially boils down to the nature of nightline. She reasons
that people may have others to talk to during the day, or at least there is help that
can be accessed, such as the university counselling service. But in the night, she
says, which is often the hardest time for people who are struggling with their mental
health or even for people who just have something on their mind. In her words, ‘it
doesn’t have to be a serious problem. It can just be something that is keeping you up
that week, and I think if its hardest at night, there should be a service which supports
people at night, so that’s basically what nightline is.’
As well as this, she holds that the other significant thing about nightline is that it is
non-advisory. According to Rosie, “actually being listened to without someone giving
advice is very refreshing and incredibly validating. Just to have someone asking
questions and hearing everything you think about the problem; while helping you try
to solve it, or even just listening is extremely helpful.’ Essentially, affirming her
comment earlier about the service being ‘ a completely confidential venting service’
Lastly, why sign up to be a listening volunteer?
The first thing Rosie said when asked this question was ‘everyone’s obviously really
kind’ which I think sounds like a testament to what a great society nightline is to be a
part of. According to her, the social aspect of the society is actually a big part of it,
which ‘something that kind of took [her] by surprise a bit.’ She says that there are
quite a lot of socials, and there are multiple volunteers on each shift, which are more
often than not strangers, so it is a great place to make friends. As well as the social
part, she also described the service as giving her a purpose at university. In her
words, ‘I think it’s a nice kind of feeling like you have a purpose at university because
I think a lot of people don’t love their degree or its not leading directly to the career
you want to do, leaving people feeling unfulfilled. Nightline gives you a purpose and
makes you feel like you’re helping and making a difference’
Overall, Nightline sounds like an incredibly helpful service that sounds like an
amazing society to be a part of. I would recommend anyone reading to not hesitate
to use nightline if needed or become a listening volunteer! Big thank you to Rosie for
letting me interview her, and to all the listening volunteers at nightline!