30 January 2001
SANELINE INUNDATED BY DEPRESSION CALLERS
The national mental health helpline, SANELINE (0845 767 8000), has been inundated with calls since it first appeared on GMTV on Monday morning, as part of a series of features on depression being shown this week.
The phones have been ringing off the hook since yesterday's GMTV, which included a live link-up with SANELINE's Tower Hamlets-based helproom. SANELINE handled as many calls in the first four hours as it normally handles in a whole day.
Marjorie Wallace, Chief Executive of SANELINE, said: "We've already taken so many calls from desperate people coping with depression. The massive response to GMTV's depression week highlights the scale and depth of need and the numbers of people affected by mental illness who are not getting help.
"Depression is a wimp word for a debilitating and potentially life-threatening illness and its effect on people's lives is often underestimated. If you imagine having a million pounds at the end of your bed and being unable to pick it up, it gives some idea of what depression is like for those it afflicts."
SANELINE is open from 8am on Monday 29th, Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st January, starting four hours earlier than its normal opening time of 12-noon. The helpline remains open until 2am, seven days a week.
"We would love to open our helpline at 8am every day of the week but we just do not have the funds to do it," Marjorie added.
Anyone who would like to train as a volunteer for SANELINE and can give a few hours a week to help someone in distress should contact the charity on 020 7375 1002 or visit the website at www.sane.org.uk.
SANE was established to help meet the challenge of mental illness, by informing people and changing attitudes, providing care, and initiating medical research. SANELINE (0845 767 8000), is the only national out-of-hours telephone helpline to give practical information, crisis care and emotional support to people coping with mental illness, and responds to on average 1000 calls a week.
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