Helplines and the volunteers who work on them were rewarded this week at the Telephone Helplines Association Helpline Awards 2007, which were held at London’s BT Tower on Monday 12 March.

The Awards were supported by BT, and this year's winners came from all over the UK including Glasgow, Inverness, Edinburgh, Lancashire, Devon and South-East England. Winners included a helpline which aims to help people stop smoking using text messages, a helpline which helps protect elderly and vulnerable clients against bogus callers, a helpline which remotely assesses disabled client's computer needs to help them increase access to IT, and a volunteer who saved a young man's life.

The Telephone Helplines Association (THA) is the membership and good practice organisation for non-profit helplines in the UK and Ireland. The aim of the THA/BT Helpline Awards is to highlight and share significant achievement by the Association’s members over the last 12 months. Awards this year were presented by Simon Armson, former Chief Executive of the Samaritans, and Valerie Howarth OBE, Baroness Howarth of Breckland, former Chief Executive of ChildLine. Valerie Howarth will also be inviting the winners of the Helpline Volunteer of the Year Award 2007 to an exclusive tea at the House of Lords.

This year the theme of the Awards was Imaginative use of multi-channel working. Awards were made to the helpline projects which made most innovative and imaginative use of telecommunications technologies.

The efforts of the many individuals who give their time to helpline work were also recognised, with the Helpline Volunteer of the Year Award. This Award recognises the special contribution of volunteers on helplines, and was voted for by THA member helplines.

The THA and BT are delighted to announce the results of this year’s Awards:

Winners: The Line To What Now?

What Now? utilise a range of media to provide information and advice to young people in Lancashire. They have developed an application called IMAIL which improves the efficiency and confidentiality of their web/email enquiry service q2a, which ensures that identifiable details of the enquirer are encrypted while maintaining a history of contact.

Runners up: Money Advice Scotland

Money Advice Scotland are the key signposting service in Scotland for the public to access help to manage debt under principles of free, independent, impartial and confidential advice. Newsflash is an interactive web and email based information channel for money advisors which enables them to access immediate, topical and relevant information.

Imaginative use of SMS text messaging to provide a service

Winners: Quitline®

Quitline® provide smoking cessation support via phone, email and by helping callers access smoking cessation programmes. They’ve carried out a successful pilot delivering smoking cessation interventions by SMS, which are personalised for relevance to different age and ethnic groups.

Winners: Hearing Concern Helpdesk

Hearing Concern supports people who are hard of hearing. Many of their callers have difficulty understanding speech over the phone. Email helps, but not everyone has computer access. Their SMS text messaging service now enables people to contact them by mobile phone. They also worked with Directory services company 118 118 to ensure the 118 118 service met the needs of hard of hearing people.

Runners up: Samaritans

Samaritans has developed an SMS service that is the UK’s first ever emotional support service via text messaging. The SMS service aims to provide confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It specifically aims to reach young people using their medium of choice. During a recent 6 month pilot over 80,000 messages were received from over 3,200 callers.

Imaginative use of telephony to provide a service

Winners: Good Morning Project Ltd

Good Morning Project Ltd, based in North Glasgow, is a telephone care scheme which gives support to vulnerable members of local communities. Volunteers make regular outbound calls to clients of the service at agreed times, to check on client’s wellbeing, provide reminders for hospital appointments and alert them to bogus callers. Volunteers alert nominated persons if calls are unanswered.

Winners: Highland Carers Connect

Highland Carers Project provides help, advice, information and support to carers all over the Highlands. The highland region covers an area the size of Belgium with many people living in very remote communities, which can lead to social isolation, especially for carers whose responsibilities mean they can’t get out. The Highland Carers Connect project provides virtual support groups by teleconference.

Imaginative use of multiple technologies to provide a service

Winners: AbilityNet

AbilityNet offer a Free National Helpline Service for anyone enquiring about access to ICT who has a disability or limiting condition. They use the internet to remotely assess the computer needs of clients with disabilities. This adds value to their helpline service.

Runners up: Citizens Advice Direct

Citizens Advice Direct is a telephone advice service based in Scotland, part of the network of Citizens Advice Scotland. They worked in partnership with Citizens Advice England, to increase access to advice by offering a combination of telephone, email and web-based interactive (chat-style) advice.

Helplines which were not placed in a specific category but were also highly commended:

Highly commended: CAREConfidential

CAREconfidential is a crisis pregnancy and post-abortion helpline. Their web portal enables the public to contact their nearest centre offering pregnancy and post-abortion support. Clients can upload their own personal stories onto the website, and access secure online counselling.

Highly commended: Get Connected

Get Connected is a national helpline for under 25s, staffed by volunteers, which puts callers directly through to the services they need. They’ve developed an instant-messaging system which allows the supervisor to listen in to the calls their volunteers are taking, and offer messages of support and advice or even suggestions for what to say, straight to the volunteer’s screen.

Highly commended: Breast Cancer Care

Breast Cancer Care is a helpline providing free advice and support to anyone affected by breast cancer. They’ve implemented a system which records and monitors helpline calls, to support and empower helpline workers and improve the quality of the service provided.

Helpline Volunteer of the Year

Winner: James Cairns, Breathing Space

Breathing Space is a helpline that works over the phone with anyone who experiences low mood or depression. Breathing Space particularly targets young men, given that suicide rates are higher among young men, particularly in Scotland.  James is from Glasgow and has worked as a volunteer with Breathing Space for two years. He takes part in awareness raising events throughout Scotland speaking to the public about the Breathing Space service and of his own mental health and how this has impacted on his own life. James fully believes what he is talking about and his knowledge is born out of painful experience.

Winner: Dorothy Sutton, MS Helpline, Multiple Sclerosis Society UK

Dorothy has volunteered as a Helpline Officer for the MS Society for the last six years. Despite all the difficulties that accompany the MS which she has had for 28 years, she demonstrates complete reliability and considerable flexibility. She is always one of the first to respond positively to any unexpected staffing shortage. She is also volunteer chair of her local MS Society Branch. At Christmas she was recommended for a gold medal by the St John’s Ambulance Service for saving the life of a young man who had been attacked. She did this without regard for her personal safety and despite requiring the use of a wheelchair herself.

Runner up: Judy Brydon, Children 1st Parentline Scotland

Judy was nominated by her fellow-volunteers on the Edinburgh-based helpline Parentline Scotland, for her loyalty, enthusiasm and skill as a call-taker. She is highly committed to the service, reliable and flexible, which are valuable attributes to helplines which must provide reliable services with finite resources. She has also demonstrated a willingness to maintain her ongoing learning, and to pass this on to fellow volunteers as a trainer. She also passes on her passion for Parentline Scotland’s work by publicising the service at events.

The winners of the "Imaginative use of…" awards were chosen by our expert panel, which was headed by Valerie Howarth OBE (Baroness Howarth of Breckland). Valerie’s connection with helplines goes back a long way. She is a former Chief Executive of ChildLine, was the original Chair of Telephone Helplines Association and is now an Honorary Member.

The Helpline Volunteer of the Year award was voted on by Telephone Helplines Association members, who are non-profit helplines from across the UK and Ireland.