small voice of the month – The Listening Service

We continue to celebrate people or organisations who have a small voice but make a big difference… This month is ‘The Listening Service’. The first court Listening Service in Scotland has been running since December last year and had its official launch at Edinburgh Sheriff and Justice of the Peace Court in March. It is staffed by volunteers made up of different faiths, or none, and provides an independent confidential listening and support service to all court users. The aim is to help people who may feel the need to talk to someone during what can be an unknown and stressful experience of attending court – simply by being there and lending an ear.

The idea to set up the service came from Methodist Minister Andrew Letby, after he heard of the experiences of a church couple who had attended court for a case involving their son and felt the need for someone to talk to. A group of 19 volunteers was recruited and trained for the new service, and now there are 25 people regularly volunteering at the court.

Margaret went to speak to Andrew about the new service – listen at around 34’12 minutes in to May’s podcast. The full interview will be available soon as a podcast extra.

You can read more here  and visit the Listening Service’s Facebook Page here.

P.S. Oh, and Andrew has been on smallVOICE before!
He contributed his Thousand Words in March 2015.

 

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