Telephone and Webchat Helpline

Are you having a difficult time? Would it help to talk to another woman who can help you think things through?

Why get in touch? Women contact us for many reasons. They may be feeling distressed, overwhelmed, upset or frightened and need someone to support them and understand how they are feeling.

Who can get in touch? Any woman, girl or non-binary person aged 16+ who is in need of a ‘listening ear’ can call us or use the webchat. If your first language isn’t English, the webchat offers automatic translation so you can talk to us in your own language. Whatever you are feeling, or whatever has happened, we will believe you and will be there for you.

What we offer…We will listen to you and support you to talk about how you are feeling and what’s going on in your life. Talking about and exploring difficulties and feelings can help you to make sense of what’s happening and why you feel the way you do. Just to feel heard and understood can be very powerful. We can offer you up to 50 minutes to talk, either on the phone or online via the webchat.

If needed, we can also tell you about Womankind’s other services and sources of support that may be helpful for you.

We welcome your feedback so that we can continue to improve and develop the Helpline service. If you have recently called us please take a few minutes to fill in our online feedback questionnaire.

Interested in volunteering on the Womankind Helpline? Click here

BSL Video
Frequently asked questions about the helpline
Telephone

Both our 0117 and 0345 numbers are charged at normal ‘geographic’ number rates. Calls from landlines are typically charged up to 9p per minute and calls from mobiles are charged between 3p and 55p per minute depending on your call package. Calls to our helpline would be included in any free minutes you have on your mobile package.

If you are calling from a Bristol landline it will be cheaper for you to call our 0117 number. If you really can’t afford the cost of a call, then don’t worry we can call you back.

Yes, both numbers will appear on your telephone bill if you receive an itemised bill. If we call you back, our number will show as withheld.

We don’t record calls or ask you for your name or any personal information. Our volunteer listeners may be able to see your number displayed on our system during the call, however we do not record this information without your permission so that we can offer you a safe and confidential space to talk about your concerns. So unless you give us identifying information (such as your full name or address) you will remain anonymous. If you do give us identifying information we will only break confidentiality if:

  • You are a child at risk, or you are giving us information about a child at risk.
  • You are an adult in need of care and support and we are concerned for you safety.
  • You request that we break confidentiality for some reason e.g. if you are at risk and you have asked us to contact the police on your behalf.

We will discuss this with you first and we will remind you, before you give us identifying information, of our duty under Child Protection/Care Act legislation.

Yes we can call you back within our normal Helpline opening hours. If you call outside of our opening hours, or if you call and the line is engaged, you can leave us a message with a telephone number where you would like us to call you back and we will aim to call you back during our next Helpline shift.

Women who want to support other women. They will want to understand how you are feeling and the difficulties you are facing. We are here to listen and not judge. All the volunteers on our Helpline have received comprehensive training and are skilled to support others.

Don’t worry, we won’t rush you or put pressure on you to talk. We understand it may be difficult to know how to tell your story or say how you feel. We are here to listen and offer support…it’s ok to take your time, the time is yours.

Webchat


We have no way of tracing you, meaning that we can offer you a safe and confidential space to talk about your concerns. So unless you give us identifying information (such as your full name or address) you will remain anonymous. If you do give us identifying information we will only break confidentiality if:

  • You are a child at risk, or you are giving us information about a child at risk.
  • You are an adult in need of care and support and we are concerned for your safety.
  • You request that we break confidentiality for some reason e.g. if you are at risk and you have asked us to contact the police on your behalf.

Webchat transcripts are reviewed to monitor the quality of the service provided, and then deleted or anonymised for training purposes. Comments may be anonymised and used for development or promotion of our services. 

It isn’t possible to leave a message via the webchat, and the webchat cannot get in touch with you: you have to be the one to start the session. If we are busy or offline please try again.

Women who want to support other women. They will want to understand how you are feeling and the difficulties you are facing. We are here to listen and not judge. All the webchat volunteers have received comprehensive training (including Deaf Awareness training) and are skilled to support others.

If you want to speak to us in your own language, the webchat will use Google Translate technology to automatically translate what you and Womankind are writing to each other. It’s confidential and secure so no one outside of Womankind will see what you write. Because it’s Google Translate and not a human interpreter there may be some mistakes – we hope you can be patient with this! If you want to use the webchat translation service, just click on the chat button and you’ll be offered a choice of language.

Both Telephone and Webchat

Sometimes the struggles we are experiencing now have links to the past so talking can help make sense of the difficulties. Being heard and understood by someone can make a huge difference: difficult feelings can weigh us down so saying them “out loud” to someone else and getting them off our chests can make a difference.

Sometimes talking to someone you don’t know and who is impartial can be very helpful. Whether you feel that you don’t want to worry your own family or friends, or whether they are actually part of the problem you are struggling with, talking to someone outside of your situation who has been trained to give support can be beneficial.

We want to support women to make their own decisions. We won’t tell you what to do but we will be able to help you explore your situation and your feelings, in order to help you to decide what feels right and possible for you at this time.

The helpline is aimed at women and girls aged 16+. There is no maximum age limit! If younger girls get in touch with us we will support them too, and encourage them to contact Childline.

Yes, you can use the service more than once, and some women use it regularly. As a general guideline we would normally suggest that women use the helpline up to twice a week, and no more than once a day. This is because we believe it’s more helpful to be getting different kinds of support from a range of sources, rather than relying on just one. If you would like us to, we can help you think about various options for coping.

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Get in touch

You can contact us via our Helpline

Telephone Helpline Opening Hours

Mon 10am-12noon / 1pm-3pm / 8pm-10pm
Tue 10am-12noon / 8pm-10pm
Wed & Thu 10am-12noon / 1pm-3pm
Fri 10am-12noon

0345 458 2914
0117 916 6461

Webchat Helpline Opening Hours

Mon 1pm-3pm / 8pm-10pm
Tue 10am-12noon / 8pm-10pm
Thu & Fri 10am-12noon

We will never end a chat without warning. If your chat closes unexpectedly it is probably a connection issue, so please try again!

 

Helpline Email
You can also email us for information and support: helpline@womankindbristol.org.uk

General Enquiries
For more general enquiries, please email info@womankindbristol.org.uk

If you are an agency who would like to make a referral please contact us on our Helpline number or email us

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