THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE WILL ATTEND SHOUT’S CRISIS VOLUNTEER CELEBRATION EVENT
West London
Tuesday 12th November 2019
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend Shout’s Crisis Volunteer celebration event at the Troubadour White City Theatre in London on 12th November.
The event brings together people from across the UK who volunteer around the clock with Shout to support people in crisis. As volunteers access their shifts from computers in their own homes, this event will be an excellent opportunity for this virtual community to meet and see the scale of the national network they have joined.
Shout is a 24/7 text support service which was researched and developed by The Royal Foundation as a legacy of the Heads Together Campaign, with a £3million investment. It was launched by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in May 2019. The service is powered by Crisis Text Line. Since the service went live, Shout 85258 Crisis Volunteers have had 145,000 conversations via text with people in crisis, exchanging 6 million messages.
This annual volunteer day is focussed on celebrating the hundreds of trained Crisis Volunteers who operate the 24/7 service taking shifts in their homes across the UK, under clinical supervision. Shout aims to encourage people to reach out for support at an early stage, without fear or shame.
During the visit, the Duke and Duchess will receive a brief update on the scale and impact of Shout. Their Royal Highnesses will hear that 75 per cent of people who contact Shout are under 25, and that the most frequent subjects raised in those conversations are suicide (37 per cent), depression (36 per cent), relationships (29 per cent), anxiety (31 per cent), isolation (19 per cent) and self-harm (17 per cent).
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will also meet people who answered Their Royal Highnesses’ public appeal to volunteer with the service. An amazing 13,000 people registered an interest with Shout following the appeal and 3,000 enrolled in training. Shout 85258 now has 1,500 Crisis Volunteers active on the platform with more training, graduating and joining the platform each week. Their Royal Highnesses will also meet mental health campaigners, Shout staff members and supporters.
The Duke and Duchess will join Shout volunteers in the theatre to watch a special performance before joining a group photo with volunteers to encourage everyone to spread the word about Shout.