Reach Out is The Forward Trust’s free, confidential online chat service, which connects you to a friendly team of trained volunteers who can chat about your challenges with you.
Our team of trained volunteers respond in real time to give you someone to talk to about how you are feeling and the challenges you are personally facing. Every chat is confidential, and support is tailored to the individual needs of each person who uses the service.
We are here to offer support, whether you are seeking drug or alcohol help for yourself or a loved one.
You may be a current client, have attended one of our services before, or be completely new to Forward – we are here to help everyone. In fact, 40% of those who used Reach Out in the first 3 months of 2025 had never used a Forward service before.
Worried about someone you know? Reach Out can offer support to those who are worried about the substance use of another. Between January and March 2025, 16.5% of callers were from loved ones concerned about the drug and/or alcohol use of a loved one.
Service users are welcome to access Reach Out as a repeat or return caller for as long as they feel necessary. There is no specific time limit to the length of time spent chatting to a member of our team. However, whilst it will not be possible for users to connect to the same chat facilitator each time, our team of friendly volunteers are well equipped and willing to support callers and their needs.
If we are not able to offer support from one of our existing services, we can help to signpost you to other organisations. More information on further support can be found below.
Reach Out is not a crisis service. If you are experiencing an emergency and need immediate support, such as a suspected overdose, please call 999.
For mental health crises, including strong and persistent feelings that you want to end your life, please seek immediate help from the emergency services on 999. You can also call the Samaritans on 116 123.
If you do enter the web chat conversation and are experiencing a crisis situation, we will appropriately redirect you to alternative sources of support.
Reach Out is for those who:
Are aged 18 or older.*
Are worried about their own or a loved one’s substance use.
* For those who are aged below 18 and looking for support, visit Childline’s website here or call them for free at any time on 0800 1111.
Reach Out is currently available between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
If you need support outside of our opening hours, you can contact the following organisations:
Alcohol and/or drug support
NHS drug and alcohol services: www.nhs.uk
Alcoholics Anonymous: www.alcohol.anonymous.org.uk
Narcotics Anonymous: ukna.org
Cocaine Anonymous helpline (open every day, 10am to 10pm): www.cocaineanoynomous.org.uk / 0800 6120225
Mental health support
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) evening webchat (open every day, 5pm-12am): www.thecalmzone.net/suicide-prevention-helpline
Anxiety UK helpline (open Monday to Friday, 9:30am-5:30pm): http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/ / 03444 775 774
My Black Dog: www.myblackdog.co/
Our Reach Out service relies on the generosity of a brilliant team of volunteers, led by a small group of staff. Our volunteers come from a diverse variety of backgrounds; some of which have experience with addiction, mental health issues, and the criminal justice system themselves.
Our volunteers receive initial training and access to ongoing support and guidance within their role. All our volunteers are motivated by care and compassion and give their time freely to facilitate the service.
If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer for Reach Out, find us more on our volunteering page or contact us via email: volunteering@forwardtrust.org.uk.
Everything you tell us is confidential. We won’t share it with anyone else.
The only time this might change is if we have serious concerns about your own or someone else’s safety. We would only need to share information about what you disclose if:
We believe your life, or someone else’s, is in danger.
You are a young person under the age of 18 and you let us know that you are being hurt by someone.
You tell us that you are seriously hurting yourself or someone else or have plans to seriously hurt yourself or someone else.
If you share information with us which identifies a child or adult at risk who is suffering abuse or harm, we will want to gather a full understanding of the situation and gather as much information as possible. We may contact other relevant services. We cannot accept anonymous third-party information. We can only help in these circumstances if we have information which identifies you.
We also can’t give you any information about another client or confirm whether The Forward Trust or Reach Out are working with or supporting someone. This is due to data protection and client confidentiality legislation.
