Volunteer in the Spotlight: Dan H.

For Dan H., mastering Active Listening has been like learning how to hit a baseball. It takes practice and it’s a skill that can fade if it isn’t used and applied regularly, Dan explained. He admitted that he found it difficult at first, but he realized before long how useful it was not only as a Crisis Line Specialist on CONTACT Pittsburgh’s crisis and suicide hotline, but also in his professional life.

Active Listening, the process by which the Crisis Line Specialist shows respect for the caller, demonstrates interest in their problems and situations, and establishes trust and rapport with the caller, has been extremely relevant to Dan’s work as a Police Officer and Hostage Negotiator on the South Hills Area Council of Government Critical Incident Response team. As a part of his training to become a Hostage Negotiator, Dan completed CONTACT Pittsburgh’s Crisis Line Specialist training, where he was introduced to Active Listening and other crisis management skills and techniques. Required to complete eight hours of negotiation training a month to maintain his status on the team, Dan currently completes one four-hour shift on the CONTACT hotline and practices hostage negotiation simulations with his team. “A lot of time can pass without a negotiation, we don’t know when the next one will happen,” Dan noted. It’s important that he and his team keep their skills tuned in the meantime.

Dan encounters people in crisis situations almost every day. He believes that the skills he has learned and developed through his CONTACT training have taught him to become a stronger, more supportive listener for these people, and to faster diffuse their heightened emotions. “Active Listening has made me a better officer with people on the street,” Dan said. “People in crisis, I’m dealing with them constantly. Some people are in crisis just by getting pulled over,” he added.

As a Crisis Line Specialist, Dan has gained stronger awareness of mental health. He has been given the opportunity to listen to people who come from a variety of backgrounds, are suffering from varying degrees of emotional distress, and who are struggling and coping with this distress in different ways. “It has opened my eyes a lot to how illness can manifest itself in the lives of real people,” he said.

Though taking one shift a month on the hotline is necessary to maintain his status as a Hostage Negotiator, Dan has been so impressed by what he’s learned that he wants to continue as a volunteer in the future, regardless of his position on the team. “It seems like hearts are in the right place,” he said of CONTACT Pittsburgh. His heart seems to be in the right place, too.

-Kate