A crisis and suicide prevention helpline is launching a fundraiser to help them provide better service.
Chimo Helpline Development Officer Jonathan Richardson says last year they received 12,894 calls in total.
“We were missing 2,091 calls per year because other interveners were already on phones with somebody else in crisis so they couldn’t answer the phone while they were already on the phone,” says Richardson.
Richardson says what they really need is more bodies on calls, and training them properly is quite expensive.
“Even if we flooded in new volunteers to do the calls, the Assist Program is $200 per person,” says Richardson. “We like to do mental health, first aid and a lot of training.”
He adds they can’t take just anybody off the street “because they’ve got to be able to actually provide some really good professional help to whoever’s calling.”
Chimo Helpline launched a fundraising campaign this month called #answerthecall, and they are hoping to raise around $30,000.
