How can I get in touch?
Whether you contact Respect Phoneline by phone, email or webchat, we want to offer you the most appropriate help and support, via a high-quality service, with courtesy and respect.
What happens when I call?
Respect Phoneline is a busy helpline and we can’t always answer calls as quickly as we would like. A queueing system operates with no maximum waiting time. Your call will be held in the queue until an Advisor becomes available or until the time the helpline closes.
While your call is in the queue, you will hear a ‘still in the queue’ message every minute or so, giving you information about your place in the queue.
To enable as many callers as possible to get help and support, we offer calls of around 30 minutes. However, if your situation is complex, the Advisor will not terminate your call prematurely. You are welcome to contact us as many times as you need to.
Please note:
Respect Phoneline is staffed by male and female Advisors. If you have a preference for the Advisor’s gender, please inform the Advisor you are speaking to and they will transfer your call to another member of the team, if one is available.
What will we ask?
- Depending on what prompted you to call, the Advisor will ask questions to understand your situation better and give you relevant advice.
- We want to understand the behaviours you’re using, so we can help you become safer around your partner and any children. Some of these questions may come across as too personal. If you feel that you don’t want to answer, please let the Advisor know that you are not ready to talk about a specific issue.
- We do not ask for your name, date of birth, address. The call is confidential and anonymous. At the end of the call, we ask all callers monitoring questions. These are required by our Funders and we appreciate your answers; however, if you prefer not to answer, that’s ok. You cannot be identified by these answers, though.
- The monitoring questions we ask are: how you heard about the helpline; how old you are; how you describe your gender and your sexual orientation; what your ethnic group is; and which local authority you live in.
When you email us
We aim to reply to emails within five working days.
When you contact us via webchat
The webchat service is offered every Thursday from 2-4pm. Your chat will be connected to an Advisor, if one is available. Once connected, we kindly request that you try to respond within 2 minutes, so that the Advisor can focus on helping you and your webchat is not terminated.