Hannah Hammoud
Lifeline will open its first crisis support and suicide prevention call centre this month, located on Victoria University’s (VU) St Albans Campus.
Lifeline and VU recently signed a five year partnership to establish Lifeline Western Melbourne, the first Lifeline service in the state to operate from a university campus.
General manager Jason Doherty said there was an identified need for a support service in the region, which has experienced a 35 per cent surge in demand from residents facing emotional distress or battling cost of living pressures since the pandemic.
Nine volunteers have completed their initial crisis supporter training and are ready to take live supervised calls on 13 11 14 as part of a 12 month internship to become accredited crisis supporters. The service will aim to have 40 crisis support volunteers answering calls in the centre by the end of its first year.
Mr Doherty said it was important that Lifeline crisis supporters came from all walks of life, age groups and cultural backgrounds, including students and young people.
“Crisis supporters do not need to have experience in counselling as we provide extensive training and support to help empathetic people be there for others – to listen and offer hope,” he said.
VU Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Shoemaker said VU was honoured to support Lifeline’s critically important work.
“We want to be part of a solution that ensures our communities do not face their most serious challenges alone,” he said.
“That is where the Crisis Call Centre comes in – and we couldn’t be prouder to host it at our St Albans Campus.”
Lifeline crisis supporter training is done online alongside other trainees over four to eight weeks, before the internship stage commences at the centre.
A trained crisis supporter then commits to a minimum four hour shift per fortnight. There is flexibility in both training times and volunteering rosters.
Lifeline will hold an online information session for anyone interested in training as a crisis support volunteer at Lifeline Western Melbourne on Monday, July 3.
Details: bit.ly/CrisisSupporterInfoSession.
