Windows out, windows in

Windows out, windows in

by Stella Pearson, Trainer and Consultant at Helplines Partnership

Door closes, hum subsides. Screen, papers, scratched desk, coffee circles.

Cup sips, window out.

Car park, grey today. Tree shapes break concrete lines. Green shoots brave the cold.

Team smiles, greeting, briefing. Today, tasks, timings. Projection and introspection.

Phone rings, headset, connect and haptic switch – the frame reverts. Window in.

“Hello?” breath in the ear. Strong, uncertain, tense or clear.
First warm words “you’re through to…”

Story starts, someone’s world, window in.
Pale grey outlines darken, colours form. Their time and pace. Share much, little, none.
Burst, full colour saturation. Or snapshots, fleeting flash then shutters.

Calls are lives. A hundred, thousand windows in, to unseen helpline spaces.
Wide angles show communities, suppressed or spoken histories, campaigns, emerging wrongs or rights.
Or macro focus pinpoint lights, a single ‘why’ or ragged sigh.

Calls from homes, streets, waiting rooms.
Shouts, traffic roar, child wails, TV, sirens, wifi cutouts, fails.
Or whispers, clock tick echoes by photo frames of smiling years, of loss or fears.

Trusted, allowed in. A privilege to listen, gently unfold a call and affirm.

A single call maybe enough. Or calls over many years – ‘me again’. To update, to ask my question, or just ‘I’m still here’.

Calls bridge gaps. Options, ways ahead or just to sit beside. Often no answers but maybe left lighter or develop a sharper focus. Sometimes, new choices, sometimes lives saved.

Years of windows in, unseen. Pictures held with care in a listening frame.