The Just Listening Community opened its doors on 27 May 2021 to provide a community led alternative to emergency mental health supports or visiting the hospital emergency department for people in distress or crisis. The service is an innovative, non-coercive, and non-pathologizing new approach to mental health response conceived of and pioneered by Humane Clinic in Adelaide, South Australia.

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In the first six months of service delivery (May to November 2021) Just Listening Community was open for a total of 311 hours over 81 days. During this time there were 215 individual visits from community members. All 215 visitors were offered one on one listening and human connection by trained Just Listening volunteer staff.

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The report shares key learnings from the first six months of service delivery including that offering justice through listening to a person’s experiences in the context of meaningful human connection can reduce distress.