Reinstate Nightline
Anonymous submitted on
Monday 13th November 2023
Complete
Recently there have been attacks in the Portswood/ Highfield area. As a result of this a lot of girls are coming together to find ways to feel safe again such as forming groups to walk home together in and avoid being out alone in the dark, which due to the time of year is getting earlier and earlier meaning we are feeling more afraid to continue as normal as with darkness brings an increase in danger. However, there are still times that people might find themselves alone at night and feel unsafe despite trying our best to stick together.
In past years there was a programme called ‘nightline’ at the university which was run by students where if you felt afraid or found yourself alone at night walking home, you could call a number and anonymous volunteers would speak with you about any concerns you had. Unfortunately this programme was stopped at the university, presumably because of the pandemic. Other universities continue to use this programme and I was wondering if this programme could be set up again in Southampton, especially after recent events. Personally, I know I would feel more comfortable going out at night if there was the option of calling a number guaranteed to pick up and keep me company whilst I walked home. I know many other people feel the same way and I am certain there would not be a shortage of volunteers to run the programme if the programme is reinstated. https://nightline.ac.uk/
Responses
Here, you can view the complete set of official responses from the sabbatical officers regarding this submission.
Amy Moir replied on
Thursday 8th Feb 2024 11:07am
The Student Hub have flagged that they can also help in this area: they are available 24/7 and work alongside the Student Wellbeing Team and can respond to any concerns of this nature. Their contact number is on the back of the student ID card, and they recommend students save it as a contact in their mobiles. Hope this helps. All best, Amy
Amy Moir replied on
Friday 8th Dec 2023 2:22pm
Thank you for your submission, I can definitely appreciate the current concerns around safety. The Southampton Nightline branch was a student-run society which folded a few years ago unfortunately due to lack of volunteers. It was mainly focused on being a Samaritans-style line used for emotional/wellbeing support more often than for safety at night. If this sort of initiative was to be set back up with safety in mind it would have to come from student volunteers; the national Nightline charity can be contacted here: Contact the Nightline Association - Get in touch!, might be worth looking into.
In terms of current safety initiatives, I can recommend the Safe Places app, launched in partnership with the City Council's Violence Reduction unit, which connects users to local businesses trained to offer immediate support to anyone feeling unsafe in both the daytime and nightime. The list of registered venues is available here: Southampton Member Scheme (safeplaces.org.uk) and the app is available to download here: Safe Places Apps.
At SUSU we have placed an order for a large supply of panic alarms, please keep an eye on our social media for when they arrive. They will be free for students to keep.
General advice and support remains available from our Advice Centre and the University Wellbeing service. If you would like to discuss student safety in more detail, please do contact me at vpactivities@soton.ac.uk. All best, Amy
Actions
Forwarded to Vice President Activities
Friday 17th Nov 2023 9:44am
Comments
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Don't know if this is still the case but I spoke with VP Welfare around March/April about reinstating Nightline and although we got resources and volunteers together, Nightline are currently not setting up or reviving new nightlines as they are still recovering from COVID-19!
A really great alternative at the moment is Strut Safe, they have posters on their website which may be useful for promoting the service to students (though only currently operate friday-sunday) :) https://strutsafe.org/