December 10, 2021

The Report

Measuring government performance

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 01: Crisis Volunteer David Whiting sits in his office, where he usually responds to texters for the crisis text service Shout 85258 on June 01, 2020 at his home in the Sidcup area of London, United Kingdom. After serving for 31 years in the fire service, David volunteered with Shout in April to make use of his experience and knowledge, while not working in his regular job of face-to-face mental health support. Regularly dealing with issues such as suicide, self-harm, anxiety and depression, David found that the back-up offered to volunteers has been incredibly helpful, with supervisors overseeing conversations, a debrief 'chat room' area for peer-to-peer support and follow-up support if required. Shout is the UK's first 24/7 crisis text line for everyone, and is free, confidential and anonymous to text. Powered by a team of Crisis Volunteers, Shout uses the anonymised data collated to give the service unique insights into mental health trends to help improve people's lives. In the weeks before lockdown was announced on March 23rd, Shout was typically handling around 750 conversations a day. This has been steadily growing, often seeing more than 1,000 conversations a day. Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, recently revealed that he has been one such volunteer anonymously counseling people during the Covid-19 lockdown, after having been trained by the charity. The Cambridges and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex helped launch the Shout 85258 service last year, investing £3 million via their Royal Foundation. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

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