Helpline

Free and confidential                                                          0808 800 2200

We can talk to you in over 170 languages

Epilepsy Scotland has a free confidential helpline. Our helpline provides information, help and emotional support to those affected by epilepsy. Our callers include people with epilepsy, their friends and family and work colleagues. We also provide information and support to professionals, for example social workers, GP's, nurses, teachers, care workers and employers.

The types of topic we discuss include:

• diagnosis of epilepsy
• the symptoms of epilepsy
• different types of treatment for epilepsy (including medication for epilepsy)
• children with epilepsy (including childhood epilepsy syndromes like Rolandic epilepsy, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and childhood absence epilepsy)
• epilepsy and driving
• causes of epilepsy
• seizure dogs
• intractable epilepsy
• temporal lobe epilepsy
• first aid for seizures
• support groups and networks
• living with epilepsy
• epilepsy alarms
• epilepsy symptoms and types of epileptic seizure
• travel insurance
• employment issues
• education issues
• financial assistance and benefits

Our helpline workers do not limit the amount of time they spend on one call. We frequently send out Epilepsy Scotland guides and factsheets. All our publications are free of charge.

Epilepsy Scotland is a member of The Helplines Association. We are committed to providing a high quality helpline service. All of our staff are trained to take calls by The Helplines Association, and are also trained in the use of counselling skills.

If talking is not for you, you can also contact us by text or email.

Our friendly helpline staff are available Monday to Friday from 10am to 4.30pm (excluding local and national holidays). The freephone helpline number will not appear on your telephone bill. Calls are also free from most UK mobile phone companies including Vodaphone, Orange, O2, Virgin and T-Mobile. Calls from other mobile phone networks may also be free. The Helplines Association can give you up to date information on this, including a list of companies who will not charge you for calls. Their contact number is 0207 896 321 or email: info@helplines.org.uk

If you call us and we are not available, please leave a message and we will call you back. Our number is withheld so you may not know we have phoned you.

Confidentiality

Your call to the helpline will be confidential. We will not pass your details to a third party unless you ask us to. If you leave a message on our voicemail, we will try and phone you back as soon as possible.  We will leave a message but if you prefer not to have a message left on your voicemail, please state this clearly in your message. All records of your contact with us will be destroyed, although some information about the call is stored in our secure, password protected database. This can be information on the call topics we discuss and how you found our number. Keeping this type of information helps improve our service and helps us look for funding. We never keep personal information unless you have given us your permission. An example of this would be keeping your name and number to call you back with information.

For more information on this please download our Confidentiality Policy

Language line

If English is not your first language, you can access a free translation service. If you call us with your details, we will arrange for an interpreter to call you back. Language Line allows you to access our free helpline service in over 170 different languages. For more information click here.

To use this service:

• Call 0808 800 2200 and tell us your phone number and language in English. It helps if you can also give your name and a suitable time to call you back.
• Someone who speaks your language will phone you and introduce themselves. You will then have a 3 way conversation with the helpline advisor and an interpreter.

Through this service you can get the help you need in a language you understand.

Promoting the helpline

We have helpline posters and contact cards to help promote our free helpline service. If you would like to help raise awareness of our helpline by displaying a poster or handing out our contact cards please call us on 0808 800 2200. You can also download the poster here.

Complaints Procedure

Epilepsy Scotland is committed to providing an accurate information and support service to people affected by epilepsy. Therefore, if you have any complaint or concern about our helpline service we would like to know. Please download our Complaints Policy