We’re always looking for new volunteers to join us here at York Nightline. It doesn’t matter whether you are studying an arts or science degree, or whether you’ve got any experience in active listening – all we look for is commitment and enthusiasm for providing the service.

York Nightline is a confidential listening, information and sexual health supplies service for students, by students. We would usually be open for visits (our flat is in Grimston House, Vanbrugh College), phone calls, IMs and emails, from 8 pm until 8 am every night of the University of York term. Due to COVID-19, our opening times are sadly restricted. This term we’ll only be open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 8pm to 2am, and unfortunately, we won’t be able to take visits.

Volunteering with Nightline can be extremely rewarding – by being there to listen you could be helping someone when they need it most. By joining our team, you’ll become part of an invaluable service and also have the opportunity to meet people from all corners of university life.

We hold training weekends once a term. We are only able to train a limited number of people each time, so places can be quite competitive.

If you want to be a listening volunteer, you should…

  • Be committed to and passionate for providing the service

  • Have a high proficiency of spoken and written English

  • Be willing to remain anonymous and safeguard your anonymity and that of your fellow volunteers

We sadly cannot train you if…

  • You are in your final year, due to our limited resources and as well as the time commitment volunteering requires

  • You teach any University of York or York St. John students in the form of seminars or tutorials

  • You are directly involved with student supervision or welfare

Becoming a volunteer

All we ask is that you attend one of our taster sessions held over Zoom, where you can find out more about what we do and the volunteer application process. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask any questions you might have.

We run our training weekends once a term – these provide you with all the skills necessary to volunteer with us.

Our upcoming taster sessions in Week 3 last around an hour, and are on:

  • Monday 18th January at 5:30pm – Meeting ID: 920 5488 8537

  • Tuesday 19th January at 6:00pm – Meeting ID: 946 8555 5264

  • Wednesday 20th January at 6:30pm – Meeting ID: 996 5290 3308

  • Thursday 21st January at 7:00pm – Meeting ID: 963 8948 1437

  • Friday 22nd January at 6:30pm – Meeting ID: 915 7634 5736

(All times in GMT)

The password for all taster sessions is: kevin-cow

Places on our training weekends are limited due to budget and facility constraints in addition to restrictions in place to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission. We are sadly unable to train everyone who shows an interest in volunteering with us, even though we would like to.

Nightline demands a real commitment from all of its members and the decision to train shouldn’t be taken lightly, but it’s also a great bunch of people to get to know, and the training weekend, in particular, should be enjoyable.

You do not have to sign up or let us know if you are going to join our Zoom call.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact with our Training Coordinators by email at [email protected], or speak to a Public Face at one of our taster sessions.