“Even if you’re by yourself, you’re not alone” - How Strut Safe are helping people get home, one call at a time.

Who hasn't had that feeling of being unsafe when coming back from a night out? Calling your parents or friends just so you can talk to someone as you walk home? 

Strut Safe is a charity that helps people feel safe when coming home of an evening. They answer the phone to anyone, and will chat to you until you are home safely. After receiving a call, they will answer, take a name and a location, and then chat to the caller, enjoying a pleasant conversation until they are back in their home. They are a volunteer-operated and non-judgemental helpline that aim to spread kindness and positivity. Only opening in 2021 after a group of friends were on a mission to help people feel better about walking home alone, they have come a long way since then. 

Michelle Kelly, co-directors fo the Edinburgh based start-up, explained what the charity does and how they built themselves up: “We’ve gone from five friends in Edinborough to between 80 and 100 volunteers - and that was only in the space of two years.” Michelle has been with the company for a while, and loves the work that she does. She explained that they are opening spaces for volunteer callers to join their ranks, as they’ve had a lot of demand for people to help out. “We’re getting so much contact from people saying ‘I just heard about you and I want to help’. People care about street safety, they care about not feeling safe, and feel motivated to do something about it which is really great.” She said. The charity states that they are also not aligned with the police and that they ‘stand in solidarity with marginalised people’.

“Even if you’re by yourself you’re not alone.” Michelle said, as a reminder of what they stand for, and encouraging people to call. “There’s always someone that cares about you and wants you safe and to keep you company.” Strut safe maintain the stance that they are non-judgemental, and accept calls from anyone, no matter their age, race, gender - they just want people to understand that they are safe, and they are not alone.

To truly understand how their work helps, I spoke to Lily - not their real name - a regular user of strut Safe’s services. “They asked for my name, and where I was, and then we just talked until I got in,” said Lily. “I use it to walk home from work, or from nights out. They’re always incredible friendly, and it’s made me fell a lot less alone when I’ve felt scared.”

Another part of their policy is that they are able to call emergency services if needed, outlined in their safeguarding policies: ‘It may be that we contact emergency services following a disclosure, if we deem the situation serious enough. It may also be that we contact social services following a disclosure. Such contact will only be made if we have sufficient information to provide an actionable referral.’

Michelle continued to say that people “feel less alone” after talking to them. Strut Safe collect reviews from people after they have called, and she told me that it’s heartwarming to see how their work affects people. “There’s only really one downside,” She told me, “it’s that we don’t have the capacity to be around all the time, or more than we are at the moment.”

If you want to learn more about their services click here. Or, here is their phone number: 0333 335 0026​