Project Talk

Access mental health support / help in a crisis

The PROJECT:TALK peer support scheme is not a professional service and we are not equipped to deal with emergencies or crisis situations. This scheme is for non-urgent, informal support only. If you're worried about your safety or that of someone else, or need urgent support, you can visit the University’s page on accessing help in a crisis here.

If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, call 999.

For non-urgent professional support, you can contact the University’s Advice and Counselling Service by filling out the contact form on their website, or you can find more information about support services on our website here.

You can get involved in PROJECT:TALK either by signing up as a volunteer or by requesting to chat to one of our volunteers. Once the scheme launches, if you would like to arrange a one-to-one chat with one of our volunteers, you can do so by filling out a simple form and someone will be in touch to arrange a call.

Each one-to-one chat will last around 30 minutes and will be a friendly and relaxed outlet for any student to discuss what they are dealing with. Both the student and volunteer will have the opportunity to submit feedback to our team after each conversation to ensure everybody is comfortable and getting the experience they deserve and to let us know if you’d like to talk again.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we anticipate most calls will be via telephone or online however we will provide clearer guidance on this closer to the launch of the scheme.

Volunteer with us

The PROJECT:TALK pilot scheme will be launching in early 2021 and we’re looking to recruit 20 volunteers who are interested in supporting their fellow students through conversational peer support. The scheme can’t run without student volunteers, so if you have thirty minutes or more to spare each week and enjoy listening to others, why not sign up to take part?

Volunteers will be provided with comprehensive training from the PROJECT:TALK team in order to ensure they are equipped to offer appropriate peer support to fellow students. The training sessions will be mandatory and following each session there will be a short quiz.

Volunteers can decide how many 30-minute sessions they would like to take part in each week, and this can be reviewed depending on your availability. There will be a small amount of additional work involved in arranging sessions and filling out feedback forms.

Please note, the Students’ Union will be closed for the festive period from Friday 18th December until Monday 4th January. If you have registered your interest in volunteering, we will be in touch in January.

Register your interest

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Request to chat with someone

Once the scheme launches, you will be able to arrange a one-to-one chat with one of our volunteers, whether you have something to get off your chest or are just interested in friendly conversation. You can do so by filling out a quick form on this page and someone will be in touch with you to arrange a time to chat.

We are currently in the process of recruiting our first cohort of volunteers and we will update this page once the pilot scheme launches in February 2021.

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Access mental health support / help in a crisis

The PROJECT:TALK peer support scheme is not a professional service and we are not equipped to deal with emergencies or crisis situations. This scheme is for non-urgent, informal support only. If you're worried about your safety or that of someone else, or need urgent support, you can visit the University’s page on accessing help in a crisis here.

If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, call 999.

For non-urgent professional support, you can contact the University’s Advice and Counselling Service by filling out the contact form on their website, or you can find more information about support services on our website here.