Nightline

Nightline is the name given to various confidential and anonymous overnight listening, emotional support, information, and supplies services, run by students for students at universities all over the world. Individual Nightlines in the UK are autonomous organisations, but are affiliated with the Nightline Association, an umbrella organisation founded to facilitate cooperation between Nightlines and enable good practices. There are now Nightline services in around 40 universities with around 2000 student volunteers in the UK, all of which are affiliated with the Nightline Association. In later years, other universities in Europe, Canada and the United States also started Nightline services, though these are not regulated through the UK-based Nightline Association. Their current motto is 'We'll listen, not lecture'. History The first Nightline was set up in 1970 at Essex University by a former director of the local Samaritans branch and the university chaplain, Malcolm Norris France, to try to reduce the rate of student suicide. The helpline was founded on the understanding that some students would be reluctant to approach outsiders for help and would find it easier to speak to another student. The idea caught on and spread first to Imperial College in London in 1971, and then to many other universities around the United Kingdom.