Lifelink provides an online lifeline to many in Glasgow struggling during lockdown

Lifelink has over 28 years’ experience providing free mental health support to local communities and employee stress and wellbeing services to commercial businesses.

Since lockdown has prevented clients from visiting Lifelink venues throughout the city and kept young people home from their schools, where they would normally attend counselling sessions, Lifelink has moved its entire team of more than 70 counsellors, therapists and support staff online.

In just the first two weeks since the UK went into effective lockdown, Lifelink delivered over 1000 telephone counselling sessions to existing and new clients struggling with their mental health.

This number includes over 250 sessions with young people and a continuation of their pioneering British Sign Language counselling service via video sessions.

Jacqui Taylor, chief executive of Lifelink, said: “We know how important our service is to people throughout Glasgow and beyond who are struggling with their mental health, and there was no way we weren’t going to do everything possible to make sure we could continue to provide that service under the current restrictions.

“For the most part, we’re delivering counselling via telephone sessions but we’re working to expand the option for video sessions to all clients over the coming weeks.

“We’re still in the early days of this pandemic and we don’t know what the lasting effects of the current lockdown will be, but we do know from speaking to existing clients that people are struggling with a tsunami of emotions caused by the sudden upheaval that we find ourselves living through.

“With social distancing in place some of our clients might be going all week without really having a conversation with anyone other than the hour they spend with a Lifelink therapist – for these clients that call truly becomes a lifeline, in some cases the difference between life and death.

“The number of new referrals we’ve seen over the last fortnight hasn’t increased dramatically, but this feels like the calm before the storm, and we do expect to the see the number of new referrals start to increase more rapidly the longer lockdown goes on for.”

Founded by a group of visionary women in Royston in 1992, Lifelink has focussed over the last 28 years on empowering young people and adults to manage their mental health more effectively.

Adults who live in a Glasgow postcode can access free of charge one-to-one counselling, or refer someone else into the service, by accessing lifelink.org.uk or calling 0141 552 4434.

Young people of secondary school age living in a Glasgow City postcode can also access the service via phone and the website.