Cardiff Nightline is a student-led service that offers a phone and instant messaging service. We provide information and a listening service to all students from Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of South Wales, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we are open 2 nights a week; see our home page for nights we’re open this week. Our phone lines are open 8pm-8am, and our IM Service is open between 8pm-12am.
We are a member of the Nightline Association, a charity that helps to support Nightlines throughout the UK.
The history of Nightline
The first Nightline was set up in 1970 at Essex University by a lecturer and a Chaplain who both noticed the high levels of stress and anxiety amongst the students. They trained a small group of students to provide emotional support over the phone, offering a listening ear to the day-to-day struggles of their fellow students. There are now thirty-three Nightlines across the UK and Ireland, with over two thousand student volunteers trained to deliver this confidential listening service.
Our principles
All Nightlines operate based upon 5 principles:
- Confidentiality – What you tell us will stay between us and you unless in exceptional circumstances*
- Anonymity – We will not ask for your name and when you hang up the phone, there will be no follow up to what you’ve told us.
- Non-judgmental – There will be no assumptions or prejudice in any conversations.
- Non-directional – We will not lead the conversation in any way, the call is about you.
- Non-advisory – We are not trained to give advice, we are there to listen to you.
*Please note, the confidentiality aspect of calls can be broken if deemed necessary exceptional circumstances, such as threat to life.
Complaints and Appeals
In the unfortunate and unlikely event that you would like to report an incident involving one of our volunteers, as a member of the service or a caller, please complete the following form:
*This form will be reviewed by the coordinators of the service and the wellbeing officer. If you would like your complaint/report to be handled outside of the service, please contact the SU, who will handle the report/complaint according to the university’s protocols and procedures.