Breathingspace Omdömen 17

Julie told me at the end of the call that she was away to make a cup of tea. As if that was of any interest or consolation to me. She stated her bizzare declaration , after sepending the worse part of 30 mins , snokering the call around and stoping me from expressing myself . The lisenting was without any empathy. Or ackowledgment about the lack of help that is really out there . Despite the health service receiving heaps of hard earned tax money . It seems they money is not invested into the service , to recruit the right people for the job , or offer any real breathing space.
Telling this person that the Dr had told me the waiting list is over a decade and that I'd already tried to no avail the services bs palm people off on , was like talking to a brick wall. It seemed Julie just wanted to read from her script and respond to me as if I were a part of her robotic script system . When I told her that I had finally realised what was troubling me at the qurter time of the call. She said call back another time . While I understand that they have to limit a call , the cavliar attitude and lack of real human empahty was astounding . She wanted to keep asking me childish questions through out the call to travilse the experience no wonder I did not have time to get some focus on the issues. Just wanted to ask me about my plans for the day amd did not like to hear I'm a working man . I think there scripted caller is someone that does not do anything at all and is in a semi vegatative state. As her tone and nonsensensical replies , seemed to suggest that .
What makes breathing space worse then other phonelines with a similar remit is that they get all their funding from public money and while a few years ago there were a few good people left there. They now seem to employ intellcually challanged men and women who are trained to supress and cast away people in turmoil. The aim to get them off the line after the scrpt reading has been recited yet again . In order to return the caller back to a state of perptual turmoil . Maybe they will call in again and keep this terrible service in the funding While never really feeling heard or eased .

As I state I was about to end the call but Julie wanted to wax lyrical about her cup of tea no real concern for how I was feeling or the stuff I had just started to be up about.
It's funded by the tax payer without any real conscent so like most services where they just grab a shed load of money it's run for the survival of their terrible and harmful work force.

Absolute rubbish service, awkward silences, you can hear background noise (dogs barking, kids screaming, tv on loud in the background), I could hear the pages of a magazine/newspaper getting flicked as i was speaking, and the majority iof them don't give a damn when listening. I swear, if you don't feel suicidal before calling them, you will afterwards!!! Avoid them for your own sanity and it's best to call 111 mental health line

For one thing they are funded by the same NHS that actively stops people getting mental health support when they really need it before things escalate. I have also noticed the calls often get picked up by the same invalidating call diverter Ann or Ann Marie who has a strong Glasgow accent_ . Each time I clarify that I have exhausted the front desk aspect of trying to get a referral for a proper
assessment and give details about this . This obnoxious individual pretends like she has not heard me and tells me that the GP is the best person to get help from. I also found the silly person would say irrelevant things like we are not a chat line which was idiotic as I had only discussed issues relating to mental health . Each times I get fobbed off with being told I can self refer . Which I did years ago and this got me trouble with an entitled corrupt consultant who then when I was referred two years latter like a narca . Gave me a fake diagnosis in less then fiteen minutes then left me without any therepy or support to go back out in the street with the same problems without a proer assesment OF course I should have done the worl a favour and finished this entity off there and then . But I curbed that .
. sh or they will give the number for some third party service which at best only offers generic cbt. Most don't even do that in fact most numbers I've been given are for some other private mliking the sytem at both ends you are lucky if you get through to an answering machine which just says phone sam . In adittion to this many consultants work private as well as offering a non service on the nhs The issue is that this ignorant advisor is not a one off , the managers it appears deliberately put people like this on the front line and my calls always get through to this person in most cases . The line used to have people who could at least let a person express and vent without trying to suffocate their experiences . This person is vile just like the system which happily lives off ourselves the silent implication being if you want mental health help in this country tough luck if you can not afford to go private . Like the tax funded managers of this line probably do along with the politicians . An educated ignorant person like whom I described is not a happy accident they deliberately keep people like this front of house so those who need help and support never get it they just get monitored . Easy for them to do when they have ps protecting them but I don't think they like it when I state that they would all be easy to get rid if we .

Breathing Space may say it offers a listening service—but in practice, it’s emotional time-boxing disguised as support. What’s passed off as “reflective listening” often feels like subtle gaslighting—invalidating and disconnecting rather than grounding or empowering.

The priority seems to be ending calls quickly, not truly holding space. It’s a clever trick: if the service doesn’t meet people’s needs, people stop calling—which conveniently keeps demand and waiting times down. But what’s the point of phoning if you leave feeling more dismissed than before?

I didn’t need solutions—I needed to feel heard. Instead, I was met with minimising platitudes, awkward silences, and cold deflections.

And there’s nothing more disheartening than being paraphrased with: “Breathing Space is a listening-only service.” When that line is used to shut down depth or bypass real distress, it stops being supportive—it becomes emotionally withholding.

Worst of all, it leaves you feeling like you’re too much for even needing support. That’s not care. That’s abandonment dressed up as policy.

If support isn’t trauma-informed or relationally attuned, then it’s not support. It’s shutdown. 😔

I came across this service a while ago. Calling the Samaritans is pointless, as the listeners don't really say much. It is like chatting to a dummy. So sometimes, I rang up Breathing Space instead. And at first, it was fairly good, with a few people understanding how my mum's death and enduring years of hassle with bullying and betrayal had affected my mindset. But not now.

I'd like to point out, that I was discussing sensitive legal related issues. People cannot generally say too much about the court cases, as they obviously don't know me or the people I cast up during the calls. But I did get a few listeners who just didn't seem to show any interest, or it appeared as if they took jabs at me.

For example, I was mentioning how I had to go along a road between West Lothian and my native Edinburgh to return from some court in Livingston. So to anyone not clued up on places in or near to Edinburgh, they could perhaps find my description hard to follow. So I was basically asking if this female listener knew the road in question, which is the A71. But I got the impression she assumed I wanted to know if she stayed in Edinburgh, then told me they do not say where they are from. She never really commented on much of anything I was saying.

Other times, I had other people take a call after being on hold, that barely spoke up. Like they were disinterested or tired. So it was like I just spoke much of the time, and they offered zero feedback. When I got somewhat pushy to motivate them to be more engaging, they would answer in a half-hearted manner. But really. It felt more awkward than useful.

Another time, I spoke to a Louise. She sounds like an older lady. I do not know who will take a call, as it is random. But once recently, I was spewing a bit for at least 35 minutes, then she made out my phone signal was bad, plus she blamed my "low battery", when it was reading as being at 55%. Oh, and to be fair, I do often get a bad line, due to residing in a tower block without broadband. I use 4G. So I have to stick my phone right up at a window, where I feel it is likely fine. However, I just got a vibe she wanted to get off the phone rather than hear me ranting about my troubles.

It's sad how anxious or low feeling people are treated like dirt on a hotline, aimed at easing feelings of depression. I actually felt more sad, so I had to sleep it off.

Just avoid using these kind of services. The world has gone mad, truth be told. The best help just isn't easy to obtain nowadays, whether you truly need it or just want to vent for one hour.

P.S. I stay in Edinburgh, but my use of a VPN has listed a different location altogether.

I have only called this service when I've been in emotional distress over a number of sporadic years.
Years ago, the advisors used to listen well and tried to see my perspective and be gentle and kind in their responses.
I used this service once last year and only recently. I needed someone to talk to about my worries and to be understood to help me feel better. These recent calls have been answered by heartless, unkind and disrespectful people. The first call handler was all about telling me solutions to my issues with no listening involved and signposted to other organisations, that were not open at that time! This recent experience was even worse as her first response was totally disrespectfu, as she told me how I should feel and think about what I presented. The call handlers are not trained to be fully present, listen or even try to understand a vulnerable person. A good listener will know that by listening, trying to understand and being respectful will help the caller feel valued and therefore safe and be supported to find their own solutions to their issues. If the organisation cannot afford trained counsellors, nurses/social workers who have listening skills then it is an unsafe helpline as could be detrimental to a callers health and lead to a further need of NHS resources, which is over run at A n E, in the evening times.
I only hope that the organisation read this and other reviews to see that the staff they have employed are not appropriate for a listening service. I recommend they ensure each one has been trained in good listening skills.
What the breathingspace website advertises is not what it delivers.
It should state it is a call handling service, to tell you how inadequate you are and how you need to think differently and how 'we've' not got time for you and signpost you to another organisation that "may be open, but huffing, only for another half hour and it will be closed soon." Her words not mine. Being someone who aims to please people as fears conflict, I agreed but stomach was in knots. I have been working on that for years and was doing really well till I felt that horrible familiar feeling of compliance.
Why is it that to write this complaint on the NHS site, I would need to give all of my personal details to do so. There is no confidentiality in that system and I imagine would put many people off complaining. Unless it was a complaint about a badly done procedure. It is a disgrace!
I only hope the service has an overhaul to improve otherwise it's useless.

Horrendous. First time i called in 2023 the girl i spoke to got into an argument with me. Phoned them again a few days ago and during a 20 minute call the guy i was speaking to must have said 12 words maximum. I'm putting in a complaint. If you're feeling suicidal or even just low mood DO NOT phone this organisation. It'll just make you worse! I ended up in A&E because of them

Can't leave a zero, management need to get a grip with an average rating of 2.2.
The advisor was spoiling for an argument because I told her about the trouble I experienced with the Samaritans. Susan seemed to think that my sister attacking me physically is fine because I ribbed her for being broody. My sister also attacked me a few months ago when she refused to get out of my house. Totally judgemental and made me 10 times worse, I haven't bothered complaining as, from other people's experiences, it's a waste of time.

Literally never encountered such a dismissive and judgmental adviser. Apparently I “have an ego” and they had no advice for me because what I spoke to them about caused them to need to “hang up and go for a walk to untangle their head”. No suggestion that I had been abusive towards them. Of course, this person didn’t leave their name and when I wrote a complaint, they just said they (the advisor) knew nothing about it, and Breathing Space simply claimed they could do no more as (apparently) they didn’t know who the advisor was

I told them that it was an elderly man, I told them the times of my phone call, and they themselves said there was only a 2/3 males on that entire day. But apparently they couldn’t work out who it was because no one recalled the conversation a few days later 🤷‍♂️

Never use them!

Don’t know how many complaints I’ve made to their so called “ manager “ or “ supervisor “ , the complaints are always upheld against the advisor , the caller is called a liar , they abruptly cut the call off when they feel like it , you can hear it in the advisors voices that they are bored of listening to you , and then ask you when your going to bed , they say are professional and listen , none of both , they are absolute jokes with no professionalism or respect or listening skills at all . They should be given the boot 🥾

The people who take the call , mainly switch a session to reduce talking about chit chat stuff they want to gloss over the phone call instead of focussing on the feelings and thoughts troubling a caller . They then end the call abruptly without checking in how a person is feeling or whether they feel they've been heard in the process. In terms of what it's meant to be there for this service is not really much of one and Scotland has some of the worst rates of mental illness in Western Europe. Twenty year after another NHS service which is a law on to itself came into existance.

I have always found breathing space staff to be extremely caring and highly professional. They take the time to listen and treat you like a human being. When I come off the phone things always seem a little better.

Had to phone tonight not as good as they usto be didn't really get any advice or counseling got nothing from it and the girl talking to me seemed in a rush in the end to get me off the phone and seemed depressed it was making me worse

Lack of understanding from the helpline tonight..gave no advice it was a waste of my time..whoever she was on the phone tonight said hardly anything..it was like talking to a stuffed dummy
I put the phone down as you wasted my own time even phoning

waste of time, don't want to help twice I got hung up on within 2 minutes of contacting them, they must have better things to do with their time than helping people