The Wire

Working a shift at a telephone counsellor means dealing intimately with other people’s mental anguish. Of the 1200 calls a day more than forty are from people contemplating suicide. But as lifeline counsellor you can’t go home and share those stories – there are strict rules about confidentiality. So former counsellor Shirley Eldridge decided to turn her experiences into fiction. Her book is a thriller featuring a telephone counselling psychologist. She hopes the book, called Twentyfour Seven, will draw attention to what Lifeline achieves , and attract more volunteers to the service.