Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

If you have any questions about Conversing Care or need reassurance on how services work, below are comprehensive answers to questions we hear frequently.

If we’ve missed something, report it by clicking here.

Who we are..

What is “Conversing Care”?

Conversing Care (Charitable Group) is run by a handful of volunteers, providing free and confidential emotional support for anyone in a distressing situation or struggling with their mental health, wellbeing or lacking support.

We also support individuals who may be experiencing a mental health crisis, thinking about hurting themselves or ending their own life.

Who works at Conversing Care?

Everyone at Conversing Care are volunteers, dedicating their time to support others who are struggling.

We are all trained in different communication skills, have experience in the Health & Social Care sector and have robust procedures in place to support anyone needing emotional care.

All volunteers are police checked, vetted and monitored, so you can be rest assured the person you will be speaking to at Conversing Care is generally a decent, well-rounded individual who generally cares about you and your wellbeing.

How can Conversing Care help me?

Emotional support can help people in all sorts of ways. The main response we get is, “I needed to offload” or “Process” something which is personally very difficult. 

We may not always hold the answers but our volunteers will never judge you and are always willing to listen to anything which is on your mind.

We help people better manage their difficulties by:

  • Listening to them, acknowledging what they’re struggling with and being responsive to their needs.
  • Being resourceful with coping strategies and tools individuals can use to feel more confident in being robust and resilient to their problems.
  • Being consistent and accessible with our approach, so our service users feel they have support from another person who cares for their wellbeing.

About our services..

Who can use Conversing Care services?

If you’re over the age of 18, live in Kent and struggling to cope in some way – You can use Conversing Care.

If you live outside the Kent & Medway area, you can still contact us but we won’t be able to provide additional support as we won’t know what resources are available in your local area.

Are you a free and confidential service?

Yes. 

Everything we do at Conversing Care is completely free to use and any data or information we receive is used only to provide a safe and consistent service. 

The only time we would share your information if we had serious concerns about your safety or wellbeing. This is known as ‘safeguarding’.

If you would like to know more about how we use your data, please visit our Privacy page.

Can I call Conversing Care?

Sort of. We arrange a time and a date before we call you.

You can ask us to call you by sending us an email or message. We call this process, “Callback Request”.

A volunteer will contact you using a ‘Withheld number’. Make sure your phone can receive these sorts of phone numbers.

Email: chat@conversingcare.org

Response time: Within 24 hours

Can I message you on social media?

Yes. You can send us a message on any of our official social media pages to speak to a trained volunteer about whatever you’re struggling with. You can message us on Facebook, Instagram or X account.

We can’t provide instant text support through social media but we intend to respond within hours of receiving a new message.

Response time: Within 24 hours

Can I send you an email?

Yes.

If you like to write and reflect on things you are going through, you can write us an email and one of our trained volunteers will get back to you as soon as possible.

Email: chat@conversingcare.org

Response time: Within 24 hours

Why am I waiting for a response?

We are a very small charity. Even though we have a volunteer available every day, that doesn’t mean they are active when you use one of our services. However, leave a message and we will get back to you within 24 hours. 

If we are experiencing high demand and we don’t meet our 24 hour target, don’t panic. We will always respond as soon as a volunteer becomes available

Please feel free to contact us again if there is a time breach or contact us another way.

I am worried about someone, what can I do?

If you’re worried about someone else, the first step in Suicide Prevention is you. Start a conversation with them and see how you can help.

If you have general concerns about someone’s welfare, use our Urgent Help guide to see what support they need right now. 

You can also encourage them to seek help from organisations like us, Mind or Samaritans

If you are contacting us on someone else’s behalf, we need direct consent from that individual if we need to contact them.

For professionals, experts & business..

I'm a professional, can I signpost to your service?

Yes.

If you are contacting us on someone else’s behalf, we need direct consent from that individual if we need to contact them.

Please make sure to provide your professional role and organisation e.g. NHS, Mind, Small Org.

To find our contact information, visit the Contact Us page.

I am a professional or expert, can I contact or share information with you? It’s important!

Yes.

We welcome dialog with professionals or organisations whose expertees can benefit our cause and service users. 

For example, your insight might help us too:

  • Deploy resources better
  • Recruit volunteers more effectively
  • Source funding opportunities

To share information with us, please email info@conversingcare.org.

I am a business, can I trade with you?

It is an option worth discussing at the time. 

As a charity and the way we are structured means cost effectiveness is really fundamental to us. 

This means we like a deal! But outside what we’ve already planned and costed, if you haven’t heard from us first, we’re probably not interested.

Please do not spam us with products or try to sell us something we are clearly not in the market for. We get a lot of emails and they can be incredibly important and time sensitive. Filtering spam out of the inbox literally slows us down, saving lives.

How you can support Conversing Care..

For non-profits, ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’. That’s why your support matters so much. 

To see how much good a few quid can do, please visit the Donate page.

If you could do more, fundraising goes a long way in helping us build bigger and better changes to our service because we can plan further into the future.

For all donation and fundraising enquiries, please contact give@conversingcare.org.

Volunteer or offer your time! Online and on-foot!

We can’t offer human interaction without humans. That’s where you come in, if you’re not a robot. 

From full-time to part-time, flexible to fixed, trained to no training required, we offer a variety of volunteering opportunities.

To see how you could fit saving lives into your busy schedule, visit the Volunteer webpage for a taster.

For more information about voluntary roles, email volunteer@conversingcare.org.  

Don’t forget social media!

Unlike other charities, we know social media has a role to play when it comes to delivering services and engaging with local communities.

We need all the help we can get when it comes down to:

  • Managing, creating and posting content on Conversing Care social media accounts
  • Engaging users and growing individual profiles
  • Providing services through social media messaging

If you have any social media skills, we need your help to reach those most in need. If you can help, visit the volunteer page or email volunteer@conversingcare.org

Also, if you have a large audience on a social media platform, we would most definitely like to hear from you via info@conversingcare.org or a social media message.