LIFELINE WA has trained just 50 telephone crisis support volunteers in the past year and is seeking State Government support to fund volunteer training to meet demand.
Volunteering at Northbridge-based Lifeline has given mother and daughter Georgie Kelly and Rachael Lee, who started volunteering in May 2016, a new perspective.
Georgie said she felt an enormous sense of gratitude after each shift.
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READ NOW“It’s really rewarding when you can hear that a caller has moved their position from one of immediate hopelessness to one of more calm, to possibly accepting other options; right along to those who actually say how much we’ve helped them,” she said.
Racheal said she considered volunteering when she decided to have a career change and quickly got her mum on board.
“After working as an engineer for a couple of years, I decided I wanted a change and do something that was meaningful to me, that’s when I decided to go back to uni and study psychology at the same time as I applied to volunteer at Lifeline WA,’ she said.
“I thought this would be a great way to start helping and also to get experience in the field, as I knew I had a lot to learn.”
The life-saving pair is among 140 telephone crisis supporters at Lifeline.
Volunteers undergo an extensive 170 hours of training.
Register to volunteer by emailing hr@lifelinewa.org.au.
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