What is the Community Helpline and Who Can Call
PV Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Abhisha Shah, On-Site Operations and Training Supervisor at Community Helpline, she explained the organization is a confidential crisis support helpline and receives calls from people experiencing suicidal thoughts, mental health issues, medical issues, and physical abuse. Anyone that is having a crisis and feels like they do not have support can call and be provided with a non-judgmental sounding board. Sometimes people just need to untwine, rant and sort through their thoughts. The Community Helpline operates daily between 8am and 8pm. Volunteers listen, provide emotional support, and resource referrals for callers who are overwhelmed and do not know where to turn. The number to call is 877-541-2525.
Community Helpline Mission
Community Helpline provides a safe, nonjudgmental “lifeline of hope” to callers who are in crisis or need support. This life is created through an empowering collaboration between the caller and the listener.
History
Community Helpline, previously known as the Palos Verdes Switchboard, opened its doors in 1971 in response to a community need for a program sensitive to the concerns and interests of young people and adults. It was an outgrowth of the Palos Verdes Hotline, established a few years earlier in the heat of the drug crisis of the late 1960’s. A mental health professional, Dr. Ronald Summit, developed a format that is still used to train volunteers three times a year. As a not-for-profit organization, Community Helpline is staffed with a dedicated team of highly and rigorously trained Volunteer and Intern Crisis Listeners who support and listen to the callers daily, providing callers with someone to listen non-judgmentally and empathetically to them. Today, Community Helpline is still based in Palos Verdes with 69 volunteers and two administrative positions that serve callers from the Peninsula, South Bay, as well as callers from other areas in California and nationwide.
How Can You Support Community Helpline
Consider being a Community Helpline Volunteer. Three times a year Community Helpline holds Volunteer Training which consists of 4 weeks of in-person group training taking place twice a week, followed by 2 to 3 weeks of individual training in the office to learn what kind of support volunteers are required to provide and after this you will be paired with a mentor, an experienced helpline listener who will provide one-on-one guidance, support, and feedback as volunteers prepare to take calls independently. The next training will begin on September 16th and applications being accepted through September 5th. There will also be a training sessions offered in mid-February of next year.
In addition to volunteering, the Community Helpline accepts donations and is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization for tax purposes. Donations help keep this resource available to the community and allow the organization to provide the most recent training materials and maintain the most current methods in the field of mental health and for technical upgrades needed to ensure the phone lines are open daily from 8am to 8pm.
For more information about volunteering or making a donation, visit chelpline.org.
