Most people do. Simply Heard is where you say the rest.
You don't need a reason, or the right words, or for it to be bad enough to count.
£35 · in confidence
We always have a chair for you.
Some of it just needs saying out loud, to somebody who isn't going to try. You might not even know what it is. One thing, or a lot of small things, or a feeling you can't put a name to. It doesn't have to be a crisis. It doesn't have to be anything in particular at all.
The trouble with telling somebody you know is that they have a stake in it. They worry. They remember. They want to help. So you give them the version that's easiest to hear. Somebody with no stake in your life can simply listen, which means you can say the whole of it, and then put it down.
That's all this is. Somebody who listens, in confidence, and lets you finish.
There's not much to it, which is the point.
“We have never been easier to reach, or harder to hear. Everybody's got a phone in their hand, and half of us have got nobody to ring about the thing that's actually on our minds.
I'm not going to pretend half an hour on the phone fixes any of that. But I've spent most of my life listening to people, and I know what happens when somebody finally says the thing out loud.
It's not nothing. It wont fix everything, but its often the first step that helps.”
Being heard is the nearest thing to being held.
Between us we've spent most of our working lives being the person other people came to. In offices, in care, in housing, in schools. Not because we were qualified to be. Because we were the ones who'd listen.
You'll know who you're speaking to before you book, and you can choose. If it turns out not to be right, tell us after the first call and we'll find you somebody else.
Thirty years running the back office of growing companies. Payroll, HR, the accounts, the things that stop working the moment nobody's watching them. Directors trusted me with things they'd tell nobody else, and so did the people who worked for them. These days I volunteer at the Women's Empowerment Network in Leicester, listening.
I trained in community care and never really left it. Children's homes, youth work, then twenty years running property, much of it social housing with local councils. My tenants have come out of prison, left violent homes, arrived at the start of things and reached the end of them. Most didn't want advice. They wanted whats said to stay in the room.
I started my property company by myself and still run it myself. It provides homes for vulnerable adults. Before that, farming, and then years with adults with learning disabilities and autism, and with children no school would have. People have been telling me things they weren't supposed to tell me my entire life. I've never repeated one of them.
Most people are a bit nervous the first time. So here's exactly what happens.
Pick a time that's free and pay for it. Two minutes. Nobody asks you why.
Who you'll be speaking to, with a photograph and a few lines about them, so it won't be a stranger's voice. And a small suggestion: somewhere quiet, a glass of water, and a box of tissues within reach if you think you might want them.
At the time you booked, not a minute after. You don't have to ring anybody, remember a number or be ready early. If you miss it we'll keep trying for five minutes.
We say hello, get the boring bit out of the way about us not being counsellors, and then it's yours. If you know what you want to say, say it. If you don't, we'll help you start. If you'd rather sit quietly for a minute, do. Nobody minds a silence. And if you get upset, you get upset. We won't hurry you through it.
We'll say when there are five minutes left, and again at one, so nothing gets cut off halfway. Then we say goodbye. If you'd like to come back, you can book the same person again.
Nothing is recorded. Nobody is listening in. We don't keep notes on what you tell us.
Afterwards we tick two boxes, so we know you turned up and whether you'd like to come back. That's all there is. Your employer isn't involved, your GP isn't told, and there's nothing sitting on a file anywhere with your name on it.
We're not counselors. We're not a crisis line. If things are that bad or you're thinking about harming yourself, please click here.
And if the person you speak to isn't right for you, tell us after the first call. We'll find you somebody else.
Paid when you book.
Monday to Friday, eight in the morning until eight at night.
If a slot is free, it's yours. No waiting list, no referral, and nobody deciding whether you qualify.
Book a sessionYou've found us now.
Half an hour, somebody listening, and whatever it is out of your head at last.
Book a sessionMost people don't, at first. We've got ways of starting and we'll use them if you want. And if you'd rather sit quietly for a bit, that's fine. Nobody minds a silence.
No. We're not counsellors or therapists and we won't pretend otherwise. No assessment, no diagnosis, no treatment. If you need more than a conversation, we'll say so and point you in the right direction.
They're free, they're excellent, and if you're in real distress they're who you should ring. They're also there for a crisis, and you'll speak to whoever picks up. This is different. You choose who you talk to, you can have the same person again, and you don't have to be in a bad way to use it.
Then you get upset. It happens, it's allowed, and we won't rush you through it or try to fix it. Take the time. That's what the half hour is for.
No. Nothing is recorded. We don't contact your GP, your employer or your family. The only exception is if we believe you or somebody else is in real danger, and we'd tell you at the time.
Yes. Book them again whenever you like. Some people come once, some every few weeks. There's nothing to join and no commitment either way.
We'll tell you when there are five minutes left, and again at one, so nothing gets cut off in the middle. If you want longer, book again another day.
No. Most people prefer the phone and that's completely normal. If you'd rather use video with your camera off, that works too.