Paymentshield, part of The Ardonagh Group’s business portfolio, spearheads this year’s National Conversation Week to encourage more conversation and help everyone, including the businesses they work with, improve their listening skills.
Ardonagh Community Trust, the registered charity of The Ardonagh Group, is proud to partner with Samaritans, the charity that is there to listen, 24/7.
Samaritans are there every day and every night. Since the pandemic began, Samaritans volunteers have spent more than one million hours listening to people struggling to cope. Right now they are responding to around 10,000 calls for help every day.
Almost one in five of these calls for help has been about coronavirus, with people feeling concerned about mental health and illness, family relationships, finance and unemployment, loneliness, and isolation.
Now more than ever, reaching out to someone to ask them how they’re feeling could help them feel valued and supported.
Listening is one of the most important things you can do for someone. Once someone starts to share how they’re feeling, it’s important to actively listen. This could mean not offering advice, not trying to identify what they’re going through with your own experiences and not trying to solve their problems.
Samaritans have developed its SHUSH listening tips to help you give the best support:
- Show you care
- Have patience
- Use open questions
- Say it back
- Have confidence
To read more about Samaritans’ SHUSH Listening Tips, visit https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-worried-about-someone-else/how-support-someone-youre-worried-about/what-do-if-you-think-someone-struggling/
To find out more about how Samaritans are working with Ardonagh Community Trust, the registered charity of The Ardonagh Group, visit: https://www.samaritans.org/news/ardonagh-community-trust-announces-new-charity-partnership-with-samaritans/
