Experiences of helpline volunteers in suicide prevention: A qualitative exploration

Pages: 340-344
Nini Tadu and D. Barani Ganth (Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry )

Crisis helpline volunteers are individuals who offer telephone counseling service to people in psychological distress and have a strong suicidal ideation and urge. The objective of this study is to understand the experiences of crisis helpline volunteers who provides emotional support to person in distress and how this form of service has influenced their life. Nine crisis helpline volunteers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire and data were analyzed qualitatively. Analysis of the interview yielded four major themes about volunteers ‘experiences. They include characteristics of the callers and how they handle them, role of the organization in training and provide support for managing any negative emotions, subjective experiences as helpline volunteer, motivating factors which includes their personality characteristic, social service commitment, positive feedback. The volunteers are strongly driven by their sense of social commitment and desire to help persons in distress. They felt competent enough about themselves in providing crisis intervention, and they strictly adhere to the policy of confidentiality of the callers. Though they reported feeling distress after listening to the callers during their initial days, but with experience they have learnt to cope and manage their emotions. Working as a helpline volunteers have broaden their thought, increased their ability of problem solving in life and given them a sense of personal growth.