Since it first began operating in 1963, Lifeline has relied upon volunteers to provide suicide prevention services, mental health support and emotional assistance to people in need.

As part of National Volunteer Week 2021 (May 17-21), Lifeline WA is taking the opportunity to celebrate its Telephone Crisis Supporters - trained volunteers who operate the 24-hour 13 14 11 Crisis Support Hotline.

This year, funding from the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation has helped Lifeline WA train 57 new crisis supporters. These new recruits will join a growing family made up of people like Lowanna Hugall, who began volunteering with Lifeline in late 2020.

As a suicide survivor, Lowanna understands the importance of being there to listen during a time of crisis: "Having someone call Lifeline is such an honour, being able to share some time with a person in their darkest hour — it means the world to me."

The compassion and experience of Lowanna and her fellow crisis supporters ensures Lifeline WA can make its service available to anyone at any time of day, while also broadening its offerings to include text-based and online counselling.

With the demand for the hotline and other services expected to increase as the year goes on, Lifeline WA CEO, Lorna MacGregor, says that the recruitment and training of Crisis Supporters is more important than ever: “Our WA volunteer crisis supporters are answering more calls than ever before, and in March this year, we took more calls than we have in any month in our history,” she said.

Lifeline WA’s 13 11 14 crisis support line is available 24/7.

More information about Lifeline WA's services and volunteering opportunities can be found at lifeline.org.au.

Published: May 2021

FOUNDATION SUPPORT FOR LIFELINE WA VOLUNTEERS

Since it first began operating in 1963, Lifeline has relied upon volunteers to provide suicide prevention services, mental health support and emotional assistance to people in need.