Volunteer Opportunity: Become a CONTACT Pittsburgh Crisis Line Specialist

Have you ever wanted to help a stranger? Have you ever wanted to work on your listening skills? If someone needs to talk would you be willing to listen? If you have ever considered becoming a volunteer for a crisis and suicide hotline, the opportunity approaches! CONTACT Pittsburgh’s Spring Training is just around the corner and open to all applicants 18 years of age and above.

There is no need for prior experience in counseling or social work. The training session will teach all you need to know as a Crisis Line Specialist. CONTACT Pittsburgh has volunteers from all walks of life, ranging from college students to seniors who have an interest in helping others. Our current volunteers have been on the phones anywhere from one month after training to 35 years!

Becoming a volunteer and Crisis Line Specialist has several phases. First, submit an application here. Second, meet with CONTACT’s Director of Outreach so that we can learn more about you, and so that you can learn more about what being Crisis Line Specialist entails. Third, complete 36 hours of training over seven classes in which you will learn the skills of active listening through practice and role playing. Each training session focuses on a topic that you will encounter as a volunteer and features a presentation by a professional in that field. Finally, you will be oriented to the phone room and partake in three training shifts with veteran Crisis Line Specialists. After you have started taking calls, the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST) program must be completed sometime within the next 6 months.

If you have read this far into this post, you may be thinking, Hrm, I wonder what it would be like to be a Crisis Line Specialist and volunteer with CONTACT. Well, it just so happens I can explain some of my experience up to date. The Pitt Psychology Department led me to CONTACT in January 2010 as a part of their field placement program. The active listening skills I learned over the three weeks of training were not something I would have had the opportunity to learn in a classroom at Pitt. These skills are so useful I often find myself listening better in everyday situations. Upon completion of the training I was quite nervous to receive my first call, but with a veteran volunteer watching over my shoulder, I grew more and more comfortable. After the shifts with the veteran volunteers I began taking calls myself. Through all of the training, I have grown confident in my skills, although I do get a small rush of adrenaline each time the phone rings.

Here are the training dates for Spring 2010 (volunteers must complete all seven sessions):

Tuesday, April 27, 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
Saturday, May 1, 9:00 AM-2:00 PM
Tuesday, May 4, 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
Saturday, May 8, 9:00 AM-2:00 PM
Tuesday, May 11, 6:00 PM-9:00 PM

Thanks for listening!

-Brian