Independent Choices Greater Manchester are helping to break down barriers by changing their helpline to a freephone telephone number to increase accessibility. Although they are still keeping their old helpline number too, it is hoped that the new number will allow more people to be able to access the support they need. Independent Choices are making sure that they advertise the new number clearly as Tahira, Community & Volunteer Coordinator explains, ‘we receive calls from people from such diverse backgrounds and not everyone is familiar with tariffs and credit so it’s really important that we make it clear that our new number is free’.
To help raise awareness of both the new freephone number and the services they provide, Independent Choices Greater Manchester has been reaching out to a wide range of organisations including voluntary and community groups. As well as contacting different agencies, they have also produced a range of new posters detailing their contact details to try to raise awareness of the work that they do. Tahira says ‘We aim to ensure our services are as accessible as possible for example some of our posters are in Urdu and Punjabi. We also make sure that we use Language Line and we also have a community language helpline service too’.
Tahira adds ‘the pandemic has really raised the profile of domestic violence and we’re trying to make people aware of what services are available.’
The new freephone number is 0800 254 0909.
To find out more about Independent Choices here http://www.domesticabusehelpline.co.uk/
