Ginnie Edgecombe is one of the Trustees of YANA and joined in 2020. Here she explains how money from the Bishop’s Lent Appeal will support the YANA helpline.
“YANA provides a variety of services, but right at the core of what YANA does is to provide a confidential helpline which people can ring if they’re struggling, and its specifically for people working in the agricultural sector.
The helpline operates 24/7 every day of the year and between 10am and 1pm Monday to Friday, it’s a live helpline. Outside of those hours, there is an answerphone service, so the caller leaves a message and someone calls them back in a matter of hours.
All of the helpline staff are volunteers, carefully selected and trained so that they are then able to talk to people working within the agricultural sector, so there’s a proper understanding of the pressures that caller might be facing.
For some people, taking that first step to make the call takes real courage.
Where appropriate, the call can lead to 9 fully funded counselling sessions provided by YANA, and that can be set up within a matter of days.”