Students help others through crisis center

By Megan Finnerty
Features Editor

A woman is sobbing over the break up of a four-year relationship on line one. Line two beeps; it’s a man wanting the phone number of the local United Way office. Later in the shift, a student thinking about running away calls the Teen Line, needing someone to listen.

These are the types of phones calls Angie M., (last names have been omitted for confidentiality reasons) a senior in the School of Liberal Arts, has been receiving for the last three years as a volunteer for the Lafayette Crisis Center.

Two at a time, the center’s approximately 100 volunteers sit by the phones in a two-story butterscotch Victorian-style house on 15th Street, working four-hour shifts to keep the center open 24 hours a day.

Training for new volunteers begins Friday at the Lafayette Crisis Center. Interested students of all majors can apply by calling 742-0244 for more information.

Applicants go through an interview then, if accepted, they learn how to listen objectively and helpfully during six four-hour sessions over three weeks.

Volunteers are a lifeline for community members in times of need, dealing with calls for help from people struggling with the death of a loved one, depression, bad grades, domestic violence and so on.

For volunteer Ryan H., a junior in School of Liberal Arts, there’s no one type of most challenging call. His hardest calls are the ones in which he doesn’t know how the situation will be resolved.

"This holds true for all situations, from relationship problems to emergencies and suicides," he said. "This can be hard because, as a volunteer, you want to know that you have helped this person through their crisis," he said. "I overcome this by using the skills I’ve learned to the best of my ability each call. You have to be able to go home and feel that you gave your best to each person that calls."

Volunteers speak with callers in a non-judgmental way that reflects rather than critiques what the person is saying. By being non-judgmental, Angie M. has to sometimes even look at suicide as a viable option for the caller.

"I try not to focus on the choice of those options (suicide or life), but instead on the callers’ feelings and what made them call us," she said. "When you listen to someone’s feelings and they are able to get everything off their chest, it always seems that they find open doors they thought were closed, and therefore, their options don’t seem so difficult anymore."

It takes a great deal of practice — 39 four-hour shifts completed after training — to hone this skill, especially when callers are hostile or have beliefs offensive to volunteers.

Angie M. handles sexist and racist callers by remembering that all callers have a right to talk about what is bothering them, whether she empathizes or not.

"I may not be able to relate to their problem but I can relate to their feelings about that problem because almost everyone has been happy, sad, excited or frustrated at some time in their life," she said.

Even though leaving some calls behind at the end of a shift is hard, Ryan H. said his biggest challenge at the Crisis Center is balancing his love for the center and his obligations to school and work.

He said he loves that he can use skills he’s learned to help someone in crisis make it through the week, the day or just the next hour.

"I get a sense of achievement from the Crisis Center that I don’t get from going to class or a part-time job," he said. "I am actually working with people and doing the things I want to do as a career. It’s more hands-on than research projects and essay tests."

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Features editor:
Megan Finnerty

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