Counselling services link together
Nelson counselling service Life LInc has joined up with Wellington’s Samaritans to offer support to those in need through the region.
In February this year Life LInc changed its name from LifeLine Nelson as it split from LifeLine New Zealand to go it alone.
The free support network, which provides adults with phone and face-to-face counselling, has been operating independently in Nelson for 38 years.
It split from LifeLine New Zealand, the national umbrella group LifeLine Nelson worked under, because all LifeLine centres were merging to become one entity.
The Nelson service decided it did not want to be part of the merger, amid fears of losing its independence and the house it operates from.
When it was LifeLine Nelson, the organisation was part of the national helpline and would pick up calls from all over New Zealand.
Clinical manager of the new Life LInc, Harriet Denham said the new entity was not getting the volume of traffic it had when called LifeLine Nelson, so had decided to merge with the Wellington Samaritans service.
Chairwoman of the Life LInc board Linda Oakes had previously worked with the Samaritans in Wellington and saw merging with them as beneficial for both organisations.
Life LInc were now part of the 0800 Samaritans’ numbers.
They would take calls from the Nelson region, as well as Wellington and the North Island. The Life LInc volunteers were part of a shift roster with the Samaritans, who took about 7000 calls annually.
‘‘It’s back to being busy,’’ Linda says.
She felt the care philosophies of the organisations were similar.
Life LInc are still offering free face to face counselling sessions, where a client can get up to 10 free sessions. When they were operating as Life LInc they were not a 24/7 service. Now, working with Samaritans, they are.
Life LInc are gearing up for the busy holiday seasons.
Linda says callers could be under financial stress and need to talk about problems.
‘‘It’s also when New Year’s resolutions are made, which can be a stressful time as well,’’ Linda says.
She said it could be particularly tough for those who did not have family to spend time with.
Life LInc has more than 20 phone counsellors and would also use recent graduates from Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology social work course to do the free face to face counselling.
Life LInc had not recruited new volunteers this year due to the changes, though planned to early next year, when they would be looking for those with a sense of compassion and good listening skills.