The Listening Place
The Listening Place is unique in offering free, face to face, on-going and completely confidential support for those with suicidal feelings. The programme is provided by trained volunteers who are supported by mental health professionals, making it remarkably low-cost and high-impact. The Listening Place’s research demonstrates that it significantly reduces the suicidal feelings in many of its beneficiaries during the first three months of support, and there is strong evidence that The Listening Place’s intervention significantly decreases the likelihood of suicide.
The Fore’s Support:
A grant from The Fore in 2018 enabled The Listening Place to meet the demand for its services and demonstrate the scalability of its model by opening a second site in London. The Fore also introduced The Listening Place to Melissa Yang, Global Business Manager at BlackRock, who advised on strategy for preparing the volunteer training programme for expansion.
The Result:
The Listening Place has expanded to two new London sites, doubling the number of people it supports per year from 1,000 to over 2,000. Additionally, the organisation has more than quadrupled the size of its staff team, doubled its number of volunteers, and more than doubled its income.