21/10/2012 Lifeline from Northern Ireland

Hello, and welcome to Lifeline.

You join me tonight in the heart of Belfast's nightlife.

Coming up on the programme, we'll be hearing about

the SOS service which helps to keep young people safe on a night out.

And we're at a nursing home in Ballyclare,

where the residents have a very unusual visitor.

But first, our main appeal comes from New Life Counselling,

a charity which is having a lot of success

helping young people tackle depression.

'There must have been 12 suicides within a couple of months.'

'Everything was just getting on top of me

'and I couldn't hold it in no more.'

'There's nothing worse than someone taking their own life,

'especially someone close.'

Not everyone feels excited about their future

or has the resilience to deal with what life can throw at them.

You may be aware there's been a startling rise

in the number of cases of depression in the Belfast area.

I always felt like I was on my own

and I didn't know if anyone would understand,

so I used to keep it bottled up

because I didn't think anyone would've been through the same as me.

I didn't leave the house for, like, two years

cos I was so scared of going out

and thinking no-one would understand what I was going through.

Everything was getting on top of me and I couldn't hold it in no more.

I broke down and I couldn't,

like...think straight, so I knew I had to get help.

One counselling charity aims to tackle

the rising trend in depression

by offering therapeutic support and hope for the future.

Would you be feeling down? We can...

I can get someone to give you a call...

'New Life Counselling was established in 1993,

'in response to the social needs and difficulties in north Belfast.

'Tensions in the area made the headlines again this summer.

'Against this backdrop,

'the charity aims to support those who are suffering from stress,

'anxiety and depression.'

Tears... Absolutely floods...

'New Life also helps people across Northern Ireland

'with relationship difficulties,

'self-esteem issues

'and self-harming behaviour.

'And it counsels those with suicidal thoughts.'

There are various reasons

why people may come to us for counselling support.

Often people feel that they are at crisis point,

perhaps having felt stressed for a long time,

often suicidal and at a point of real hopelessness in their lives.

'By making our services more widely known and accessible,

'we've seen an increase in those being referred for counselling

'at a stage when preventative work can offer the best support.'

Young boys and girls in my area started committing suicide

and friends and family were doing it, and my cousin took his own life.

I know now how families feel that go through the suicide,

then we came together as a small group

and started trying to prevent suicide.

We didn't know what to do or who to go to, or...

to try and help anyone, so we got in contact with New Life Counselling

and they actually came in, they organised a meeting

and were very interested in coming out and seeing what we were doing.

They told us more about it and how we could work around it,

how we could help prevent, stop suicide around our area and stuff.

Many people think counselling is just about talking,

but New Life Counselling employ a variety of techniques,

including family sessions, group work and art therapy.

Each year we support over 5,000 people

to access counselling and to meet their needs.

We rely heavily on financial support from a range of sources,

including Government trusts and foundations

and private sponsorship.

Counselling costs around £65 per session to deliver,

so financial aid is extremely important to us.

'New Life depends on the help of volunteers.

'Many are now trained counsellors

'who have given up their time to help support those most in need.'

It's not what a lot of people would think - advising - sometimes,

it's just really being there, listening,

and help them work through.

It's really empowering them to help themselves, really.

My life now is so much better.

I don't... I know I don't need to be alone,

I know I've got people there that will support me

and will look out for me and I know that I can go out and be happy and...

After everything I've been through,

I shouldn't just sit on my own in my room.

I need to get out and speak to people and make friends and be happy.

All I can say is that nothing is ever as bad as it seems.

There's always tomorrow. Always look forward.

You need just to keep living and keep the head up

and suicide is not the way.

You've got your whole life to live for and to look at, you know?

The difference that counselling can make can be enormous

and can help people to turn their lives around.

Any donation you feel you could make would be greatly appreciated

by those who'll benefit from the work here.

Thanks for watching.

If you'd like to help New Life Counselling,

then you can donate online...

And find out more about New Life...

Now, the pubs and clubs in Belfast are busy every weekend,

but even more so as we head towards Christmas.

But a lot of young people are finding themselves vulnerable,

where there's cheap alcohol available and, sometimes, drugs.

The SOS Bus, staffed entirely by volunteers,

has been a welcome sight on the night-time scene

for the past five years.

There's a medical centre on board

and an opportunity to just sit quietly

and recover from any kind of distress.

Volunteers provide soup and coffee

and there's no shortage of takers.

Joining me now is Joe Hyland.

Joe, basically you need more volunteers for this bus.

Yes, indeed. Plenty of work to do on the streets of Belfast.

Some would say it must be extremely challenging,

the work that you do and the people you come into contact with,

some of them worse for wear or in distress...?

Yes, it can be.

But, actually, it's great fun out there as well.

I mean, most of what we do is fantastic.

Belfast is one of the safest places to drink in Europe.

But you are right, when it gets bad, it can get really bad

and we need to be well-trained and prepared for that

and mitigate what risks we can.

We ask people to come along, look at our website, phone us up,

come join us, they'll do an induction course

and they'll do some other training and then when they're ready,

they'll go out and work with more expert volunteers.

OK, Joe, we'll leave it there.

I'm sure you have a long night ahead of you. Thanks very much for that.

And you can find out more details

about how to volunteer for the SOS Bus on our website.

Now time for the Community Noticeboard.

If you want a one-off volunteering role at Christmas,

check out Volunteer Now's Christmas Connections campaign

at volunteernow.co.uk

The Alzheimer's Society's new dementia cafes

are operating across Northern Ireland to reduce isolation.

Contact Nicola Neill

on 028 9066 4100.

The Poppy Appeal needs help with its work at this time of the year.

For more information, contact...

And finally, we've seen before how pets, like dogs,

have been used as a kind of therapy in nursing homes.

Well, another four-legged friend, called Benji,

has become a regular with residents

at the Hamilton Nursing Home in Ballyclare.

Benji is one of more than 20 rescue donkeys

who are trained to deliver assisted therapy by the Donkey Sanctuary.

The nursing homes here in Northern Ireland

were very dubious at the beginning of letting us in,

for obvious reasons.

But as soon as one did it, it's like opening up the floodgates,

because the therapy is very, very worthwhile for the residents.

It's lovely.

The connection that the donkey has with the old people,

it's amazing, it really is.

Never in my lifetime did I ever think...

I've seen them on Sunday School trips

but I never thought they'd ever be

in a place like this, in a home. No.

Whatever next?

Well, that's Lifeline for now.

You can watch the programme again

and find out about many other opportunities

on our Community Noticeboard on our website.

Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.

David, any chance of a cup of coffee?

Oh, lovely. Thank you. Thank you very much.

-Is it a busy night ahead?

-It is indeed.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd