We are here to offer emotional and practical support if you are away from home or thinking of leaving.
“We’ll let you talk”
Your situation is unique to you. We’re not here to tell you what to do or what you should have done. It’s important that you get the space to talk about what’s going on, but we know it’s not easy, so we can ask you some questions and open the discussion up. But, you are in control of what you tell us, and you can do it at your own pace
We won’t share anything you tell us with anyone else, unless you ask us to. This means you can tell us what’s been going on, including the difficult stuff. You can tell us why you’ve left home, or are thinking of going, and what you are worried about. We won’t be shocked or overreact. We’re used to hearing lots of different things, and know how important is to be able to talk openly if you need to.
The only exception to this is if you told us something that made us think that you or someone else was at risk of being seriously hurt, and we had the information to make you safe – like your location. We only know what you tell us, so you should always feel you have some control.
If it would help, we can pass a message onto any family members who may be missing you, or the place you normally live. This might just be to say you are okay. We’ll work with you to pass a message in your own words. This can hopefully take some of the pressure off you. If you feel ready, we can also connect you on a 3-way call – we’d stay on the line so you can feel supported in the call.
This is one of our values. We aim to respond to you in a warm, calm and human way. We don’t use scripts and we won’t bombard you with questions. We are not therapists, but we are trained in listening to people properly and asking questions gently to get an idea of what’s going on. We’ll do it at your pace, and know you may be upset or angry and need a bit of time and care from us.
We don’t have have them all! But we can help you to find them. We can’t be experts in all the issues people are facing, but we are used to talking about lots of different things, and know how to find the right information to help you with whatever you need to do next.
We are here for you so you’re not wasting our time. You may be worried you are bothering us, or someone else needs help more. Don’t worry about that. The reason we are here is to help people like you when things are getting or have got too much.
We can talk to you about being safe, but if things are really bad and you are in danger or feeling unwell, we can get help for you – like calling an ambulance or police. We’ll talk to you about how you can get help yourself, but if it’s not possible for a practical reason, or because you are scared or unable to explain what is going on, we’ll try out best to get you help.
You can talk to us in different ways. Sometimes it’s easier to write things in a text or an email – it’s up to you how you communicate with us.
We know you might have been let down before, so feel a bit unsure about contacting a service like ours. It can be like lots of doors being closed in your face. We understand that, and want you to see us as an open door. We can’t promise that we will be able to offer everything you need – but we are professional, we are here, and we want you to be okay.
Our helpline team are here for free and in confidence. We can talk through these options with you, and if you feel ready, help you to take the first steps.
Talk to usWe have launched a regular email so that you can be aware of new missing person appeals and share them far and wide! We are also calling on all Heroes to be the eyes and ears for Missing People on the ground. Your sighting of a missing person could make a difference in a crucial time.
