Skip to main content

About us

Since its establishment in 2016, Nightline has continued to grow. We look back at the history of Nightline, but also at our mission, our values and what makes us strong: our expertise in the mental health of young people and students.
Illustration of a volunteer taking a call

Nightline France: listening, supporting, and raising awareness in favor of young people and students’ mental health

Nightline France is a non-profit organization committed to supporting the mental health of young people and students through assistance, guidance, and awareness-raising initiatives. Our mission: to provide accessible and adapted resources for young people, designed by and for them, with the support of professionals.

Our key initiatives:

Supporting: A confidential, anonymous, and free nocturnal listening service, run by students for students, available across France from 9:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m Thursday to Monday.
Giving tools: The Mental Health Mural®, an interactive workshop to better understand and take action for one’s mental health.
Training: The Sentinel programme, designed to help young people identify and support peers in psychological distress.
Guiding: An interactive directory listing free mental health support services available to students.
Raising Awareness: Online resources, communication campaigns, and institutional advocacy to promote better mental health care for young people in France and internationally.

Nightline in numbers (2024–2025):

📞 23,718 contacts through our English-speaking listening service (calls and chats)
🎓 27,347 young people reached during the academic year through over 513 on-the-ground awareness actions
🙌 450 committed volunteers helping bring Nightline to life across France
📍 Presence in 9 regions across mainland France and overseas territories
🌍 6 European countries: Nightline France coordinates the Nightline Europe network, with 36 local branches

💙 Need support? Our trained volunteers are here for you: Access the listening service
📢 Want to take action? Join the organization and help raise awareness: Become a volunteer

Download our annual report (in French)

Our mission and key values

illustration de personnages

Our priority: student well-being

Our mission is to improve student mental health by acting on an individual and collective scale and on the student's environment. Because good mental health means a state of well-being that allows each person to blossom and to face the normal difficulties of life, acting with young adults in the process of building themselves seems crucial to us. For us, mental health is everyone's business, just like physical health.

Peer support at our core

The values of our association are directly linked to our helpline, Nightline's historical service. All our actions are based on the principle of peer support, that is to say a form of service where committed people share their experiences and common life: at Nightline, young people help other young people.
Illustration de soutien par les pairs
our values

Our Actions and Values

To improve mental health on an individual level, we strive to inform, train, and equip; enhance detection, protection, and referral systems; and foster individual resilience. On a collective level, we work to create supportive environments that encourage mutual aid and solidarity, strengthen individuals’ capacities, and empower them to take action.
From a systemic perspective, we develop and share knowledge, make policy recommendations, and actively contribute to the democratization and destigmatization of mental health.

Nightline’s key dates

Patrick Skehan, an Irish exchange student in France, was struck by the lack of structures dedicated to student mental health and decided to import the Anglo-Saxon concept of Nightline listening services dating back to the 70s to France.

2016 - Nightline Paris is born

Patrick Skehan, an Irish exchange student in France, was struck by the lack of structures dedicated to student mental health and decided to import the Anglo-Saxon concept of Nightline listening services dating back to the 70s to France.

With the help of PSL University's call for student initiatives, the association trains its first volunteers and opens its French Nightline in November 2017.

2017 - Training our first volunteers

With the help of PSL University's call for student initiatives, the association trains its first volunteers and opens its French Nightline in November 2017.

English-speaking volunteers are recruited in order to offer a listening service dedicated to foreign students living in Paris.

2018 - Launch of the English Parisian line

English-speaking volunteers are recruited in order to offer a listening service dedicated to foreign students living in Paris.

As the months go by, partnerships are set up with more establishments and institutions, allowing Nightline Paris to gain popularity.

2019 - Nightline Paris receives more than 1,500 calls

As the months go by, partnerships are set up with more establishments and institutions, allowing Nightline Paris to gain popularity.

The association becomes Nightline France and, with that, deploys the concept of student listening services in many other cities and regions: Plateau de Saclay, Lille, Lyon, Toulouse and Pays de la Loire.

2020-2021 - New listening services are created throughout France

The association becomes Nightline France and, with that, deploys the concept of student listening services in many other cities and regions: Plateau de Saclay, Lille, Lyon, Toulouse and Pays de la Loire.

Nathalie Roudaut succeeds Patrick Skehan as Chief Delegate and Erkan Narmanli succeeds Florian Tirana as President to accompany the expansion and consolidation of the association.

2022 - A new lead

Nathalie Roudaut succeeds Patrick Skehan as Chief Delegate and Erkan Narmanli succeeds Florian Tirana as President to accompany the expansion and consolidation of the association.

Nightline's Board of Directors decides to set up a team of experts to form a Scientific Advisory Board responsible for discussing, evaluating and making recommendations on issues relating to the hotline, research projects and impact analysis, and prevention and mental health promotion initiatives

2023 - The association welcomes a scientific council

Nightline's Board of Directors decides to set up a team of experts to form a Scientific Advisory Board responsible for discussing, evaluating and making recommendations on issues relating to the hotline, research projects and impact analysis, and prevention and mental health promotion initiatives

After a preliminary study in the first half of 2023, the association develops the Mental Health Mural®, thanks to the support of the Sisley d'Ornano foundation and with the contribution of Psycom for the conception.

2023 - Birth of the Mental Health Mural®.

After a preliminary study in the first half of 2023, the association develops the Mental Health Mural®, thanks to the support of the Sisley d'Ornano foundation and with the contribution of Psycom for the conception.

Nightline and the Nightline Europe network - over 30 Nightlines together - publishes a ground-breaking advocacy report calling for greater attention to student mental health on a continental scale.

2025 - European advocacy report released

Nightline and the Nightline Europe network - over 30 Nightlines together - publishes a ground-breaking advocacy report calling for greater attention to student mental health on a continental scale.

Our expertise

illustration d'une équipe

Our diversity as an asset

Our expertise stems from the diversity of profiles that make up our team: student volunteers committed to their peers and close to the reality of student life, professionals in mental health (psychologists), preventio and communication, as well as local experts. Each new project is based on a concrete, real-life experience, directly from the field.
Nightline also owes its expertise to all the institutional actors who support the association: public and private partners who bring us their financial support but also share their skills and knowledge.

They support us

Today, the organization is supported at the national level by the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Health, the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), and the National Center for University Services (CNOUS). Nightline France is also a laureate of La France s’engage.

The association holds seats on the boards of the National Union for Suicide Prevention (UNPS) and Animafac.

Nightline also collaborates with numerous partners from the academic, non-profit, and mental health sectors — including 3114, Psycom, Dites Je Suis Là, Cop’1, RESES, and AFEV (among others).