Gemma Khairi: Helplines Partnership

Content: Please be aware there is a brief mention of suicide in this episode.

 

Gemma Khairi is Director of Operations for Helplines Partnership, the membership body for organisations that provide information, support or advice via phone, email, text or online.

Gemma and her colleagues work to maintain standards, offer training, advice and support across the helplines sector.

 

Having a kind and generous father, Gemma witnessed the art of compassion from an early age, as her Dad worked to support people in the community, as well as caring for his children as a single parent – including Gemma's disabled brother.

 

Maybe as natural extension of those formative years, Gemma went on to study human rights and social justice, which took her into various roles working alongside some of the most vulnerable people in society; young care leavers, young offenders, sex workers and people living with HIV.

 

There are stark differences between relationships created in a therapeutic setting, and the one-off, sometimes distressing, sometimes anonymous, crisis calls that helpline staff may deal with, and Gemma helps us understand what that can be like.

 

We discuss the pitfalls of burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma, as well as those things we can do personally and professionally, to mitigate the inevitable hazards of this work.

 

It is estimated there will be well in excess of over 60 million calls to helplines annually, and thanks to Gemma, the team at Helplines Partnership, and all those they support –  we can feel confident in referring loved ones and clients for help.

 

For more information about Helplines Partnership Home - Helplines Partnership

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This episode was recorded on Teams

Produced by Leto Blackwell

Created by the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society

Website: www.ncps.com

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