Reflections on the importance of volunteering on World Suicide Prevention Day

George talks about his work as a volunteer for World Suicide prevention day.

Mikeysline is a Highlands and Moray charity which is saving lives with its vital work. CHRIS SAUNDERSON talks to one volunteer about his work with the award-winning charity organisation.

George King has been a volunteer for five years. HELPING someone at a time of crisis in their life is one of the most rewarding and altruistic things you could do. George King has been a volunteer with Mikeysline for nearly five years. He was prompted to get involved with the charity after the death of an 18-year-old friend to suicide. When he learned of the charity and its vision to support people at risk of taking their own life, George became a volunteer aged just 19.

“The most important thing is to listen to people. It can take a while to get it out of them and reassure them that this is a safe place to talk about anything,” he said. “It gives me great pleasure in knowing somebody has texted and they have reached out to communicate their problems, because that is one of the hardest things in the world to do when you are in a deep, dark pit.”

Mikeysline was founded in 2015 after a tragic number of suicides in the Highland area. It now also provides support to people in Moray and further afield. Its text-based support includes SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Webchat and Twitter. It also runs The Hive, mental health and crisis support centres, with 1:1 appointments and drop-in. And in 2021 it launched a Young Person’s Service to support young people.

George said a call or text message to Mikeysline can be the first step down the road to mental health recovery. Volunteers with the charity will listen to each individual and point them in the right direction to get extra support and help. The crucial thing is to be personable, added George, and take time to listen to the person, and understand how they are feeling.

“There was one woman who texted in and I called the police because I was worried about her. She texted back the next day to say I had saved her life. “We all have our problems and sometimes we can make them bigger, in our own heads, than they are. It just takes someone else to say ‘things are not as bad as they seem’.”

George provided textline support and face to face peer help at Mikeysline’s Hive when he first started as a volunteer. The business solutions adviser with the University of the Highlands and Islands, still helps out several times a month with the charity and is one of its longest serving volunteers. “We have a lot more volunteers now and the work is shared out among them.”