Reach Out for Mental Health (ROFMH)

ROFMH is a suicide prevention service supporting individuals in Essex, over 18 who are living with suicidal thoughts. ROFMH offers individuals a 12 week befriending service with fully trained volunteers. Once a client is accepted into the service they are paired up with a volunteer who will call them once a week for up to 1 hour. During that hour the client can talk about whatever it is which may be causing them distress, it can be due to something which has happened recently or something which happened a long time ago. We don’t try to fix people, tell them what to do or give them advice. We listen. Initially ROFMH was set up to support residents living in Thurrock. However, through word of mouth and Facebook shares we began receiving referrals from across Essex. The majority of our referrals still originate from Thurrock. We recognise that suicidality is a spectrum and to stop people from falling through the gaps we accept referrals for individuals who aren’t necessarily experiencing suicidal thoughts.

ROFMH offers individuals an opportunity to talk about what they’re going through. This could be recent events or things from the past. We know sometimes talking can be difficult, we also know it can really help. Our service is run by a small team of volunteers who are friendly, good listeners and genuinely want to make a positive difference to those going through a tough time.