How Can I Help?
There are two ways a person can help us. Firstly we recruit and train new telephone counsellors twice per year. If you have time to spare and are wanting to make a difference in peoples lives, you could consider becoming a Telephone counsellor with us.
What do you get from being a Volunteer Telephone Counsellor for Lifeline?
We offer:
- A journey of self discovery and development
- A training course of 70 hours of theory and practice plus a supervised probationary period
- The opportunity to participate in a unique form of community service
- Ongoing supervision and support within a community of friendly, committed people.
We ask:
- A contribution of $290 toward the cost of the training program
- An ongoing commitment of one shift per week for a minimum of one year from the end of the training.
We asked our current counsellors what they liked best about volunteering for Lifeline. Here's the top five responses:
- Job satisfaction, making a difference, helping people, filling a need
- Belonging, the team, friendships, people at Lifeline
- Caller interaction and appreciation
- Relaxed, safe, caring environment
- Improving skills and self development
For more information about our service or to express interest in applying to become a Lifeline Counsellor give us a call during between 9.30 am to 3.30 pm Mon-Fri on 03 5443 1330
The second way you can help us is through making a financial donation to the Centre to help pay the operating cost of the 24 Hour telephone counselling.
Whilst we do get some funding through the Dept of Human Services, we still need to find around $40,000 p.a. to keep the service running. This money we have to find from the community in one way or another. Our training programs do generate some income for us, but without the financial support of the community we simply could not keep going.
If you would like to make a donation, you can sned it to:
Lifeline Central Victoria and Mallee
P.O. Box 1164
Bendigo, Vic. 3552
All donations over $2 are taxdeductable.