In May 1970 at Essex University an ex-director of the Colchester Samaritans and a Chaplain noticed the high suicide rate among local students. They decided to train a group of fellow students to give their peers someone to talk to. A telephone was installed in an empty campus bedroom and the students ran a helpline during the night. Thus, the first ever Nightline began.
The idea quickly caught on. In 1971 it was exported to Imperial College London. In subsequent years many more Nightlines were set-up all over the country. In every case the core values stayed the same. Every Nightline remains fully committed to these values nearly forty years on. In that time Nightlines have extended their remits to encompass other areas of student welfare. There are now over 40 Nightlines in universities ranging from Exeter to St Andrews. There are even Nightlines in America, Canada and Germany.
To improve their abilities, Nightlines banded together to form National Nightline, the predecessor of the Nightline charity. From this there has grown a strong community spirit. National Nightline became a charity in 2006.