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 Lifeline has given Mosman Park 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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