Depression helpline needs volunteers amid high demand after lockdown

A mental health organisation has made an appeal for more volunteers for its help line since the need is still great after lockdowns and there are more individuals calling who are being impacted by the cost of living problem.

Aware, a charity in Ireland that helps those with depression and bipolar disorder, is in need of volunteers who are at least 21 years old to work remotely from their homes or at Aware's offices in Dublin's Leeson Street.

The plea, according to Lauren Smith, manager of the aware support line, was made as a result of a sharp spike in calls to the free phone line during the pandemic.

According to Ms. Smith, who spoke to the PA news agency, "if you look at 2019 and 2018, we would see roughly 27,000, maybe 27,500 calls that were coming in to the help line annually."

"When the pandemic struck in 2020, that number grew to 37,506 calls. Thus, it simply demonstrates that there was a vast, unprecedented growth in comparison to all previous years.

"Based on that, there is a need for more volunteers because there has been an increase in demand since the pandemic.

It has mostly levelled off lately, but we are still counting as of 2022. However, it appears to be somewhat on par with previous year.

She claimed that increased public awareness of Aware's support line was another factor contributing to the increased demand.

Ms. Smith responded that "it truly is across the board, it is that general" when asked about who calls the helpline.

"We also get calls from individuals who are impacted by the news, so there's the pandemic, there's the rising cost of living, so much is going on," she continued.

"We would hear people thinking about what they were seeing and experiencing, so really everyone.

"We hear everything on the help line. It might be the person in the cafe in front of you."

The cost-of-living dilemma, according to Ms. Smith, "is starting to escalate a little on the line - people who have been personally touched, as well as those who are trying to comprehend the news," when asked about it.

The cost-of-living dilemma, according to Ms. Smith, "is starting to escalate a little on the line - people who have been personally touched, as well as those who are trying to comprehend the news," when asked about it.

"I can see from the calls we're getting that people are affected by what's going on in culture, and whether or not calls go up or down depending on the news.

"I can see a link to it, but I would unfortunately be unable to comment really any [more] thoroughly than that, simply because it would be outside the scope of my remit, but I do see there is a clear correlation between what's going on in Ireland and the content that we're hearing on the calls," she said.

The primary populations that the Aware line wants to assist are those who are depressed, those who have bipolar disorder, and those who have other conditions that are mood-related.

They would also give advice and pointers to relevant resources to friends and family members of persons who were calling in with these conditions.

People choose to volunteer for various reasons, according to Stephen McBride, director of services at Aware.

“For some, it offers the adventitious to accord anything alternate and to accomplish a difference. For others, it provides an befalling to advance new abilities or body on absolute acquaintance and knowledge.”

Ms Smith said: “They’re listened to in a non-judgmental way, they’re met with affinity and compassion. They have amplitude then, anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes, to allocution about whatever they choose to allocution about, and be heard uninterrupted.

“We’re allotment humans with advice and resources, and they are heard as well.”

She added: “We can’t action the abutment to humans or fulfil our mission after the volunteers, so it’s acute which we get further in at the moment and which we recruit further volunteers this year – alone to accommodated the demand.”