Gainsborough suicide prevention charity given cash boost from The National Lottery

Before the coronvirus pandemic the the Bearded Fishermen charity ran regular support groups offering a confidential space where people could talk about their problems and access help and advice at the Connexions Community Hub in Gainsborough.

During lockdown the Bearded Fishermen were forced to transition and started running their services online for those who still needed access to vital mental health support.

Now the charity, which was set up by friends Rick Roberts and Mick Leyland, has occupied an office space at Mercury House, Gainsborough, which will be home to its new community hub and call centre.

The new space will provide a dedicated suicide prevention helpline as well as a community hub for those needing to access mental health services.

The call centre will be open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and will be operated entirely by volunteers.

In addition to running support group sessions from the new space, the charity will still be running its regular Tuesday evening support groups at the Connexions Community Hub from 7pm to 9pm.

Rick Roberts said: “We’re extremely grateful to have received £8,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund which has contributed to all of our set up costs and has helped to fund everything from furniture to computers for our new call centre.

“This money will also contribute to our running costs over the next year – and we’re looking at using it to fund additional mental health training support for our phone operators.

“For a small charity like ours, this funding is absolutely vital as it means that we can keep providing a lifeline for people in need of our support.”

The charity is looking for volunteers to work as phone operators as well as counsellors willing to offer one-to-one and group counselling session. If you would like to offer your services or learn more email [email protected], v isit the website or follow the charity on Twitter and Facebook.​​​​​