Share your story

If you’ve texted Shout 85258 and been helped by one of our trained volunteers, we’d love to hear from you and help others who may be in need of support.

The power of a text conversation

One thing many people who use our service tell us, is that it’s the first time they’ve reached out for help. The nature of text means it is easy, accessible and confidential to talk to us. You can send a text from wherever you are in the UK and whatever you’re doing, without the fear of being overheard.

We want more people to know that our free service is there to help them too. No matter what someone is going through, if they are struggling to cope we want them to know they are not alone.

Seeing stories from people who have faced similar struggles and received support can be hugely empowering and encourage someone to reach out for help about their own situation too.

How will your story be shared?

There are a few different channels we might use to share your story. These include:

• Website and social media: This would show people who are interested in our service and our community online how we can help them
• Media (TV/radio/press): Sometimes media outlets may wish to share stories of the people we have helped, which can raise awareness to lots of people
• Fundraising materials: By showing how we’ve helped you, we can showcase the valuable work we do and demonstrate the need for funding for our service
• Communications materials: We sometimes produce reports that show the impact of our service. Being able to share real stories of people we have helped is an important part of showing the need for Shout

Submitting your story

Please send an email to [email protected] with the subject heading 'Share my Story'. A member of the team will be in touch with you asking you if you are happy to provide further details and answer some questions, along with sharing a consent form.

How we protect and support you with sharing your story

You are not alone at any stage of this journey. We will never share your story without your permission, and if we want to share it in the future using a different channel, we will ask you again before doing so. We will provide input to help you write your story or prepare for an interview.

You can choose:

• To remain anonymous and we will not share any details that will identify who you are
• To tell us which channels you’re happy for us to use to publicise your story
• To email us at [email protected] if you no longer wish for us to use your story

To take part, you must:

• Be over 18
• Be aware that sharing your story publicly will result in awareness of your story and to be comfortable with that. Don’t forget, you will remain anonymous but can tell us if you’d prefer not to be
• Be feeling resilient and ok to talk about your mental health story. We think this usually means that at least six months has gone by since you last used the service

Our process

Due to the number of submissions we receive, it is not possible for us to respond to everyone who volunteers to share their story individually. While we are grateful to you for sharing your story with us, we will let you know if we are going to take your story forwards.

• We will edit your submission to ensure it is as clear as possible for others to read and ensure web usability. We will send this to you to approve and make any changes so that you're happy with it.
• If you choose to share your story anonymously, we will also change at least your name and location so that you aren’t identifiable.
• We cannot publish anything that is triggering, so please avoid talking about suicide and self-harm descriptions and methods, and instead talk about your feelings.
• We cannot publish anything that is promoting a commercial service or highlighting political views and opinions, and any resources submitted will be run past our clinical team for confirmation.

Any submissions you share will be treated in line with our privacy policy and the Shout Terms of Service. In submitting a story and any photographs you’re promising to us that they are yours, your story is true and that you’re in a good place, it being at least six months since you used our service. In so far as necessary to achieve our agreed aims, by submitting your story, you transfer to us any intellectual property rights (including moral rights) existing in any published version of your story.

Thank you for considering sharing your story 💙