} Po b= = November 30, 1994 The Other Press Hey everybody, guess what. We, here at the OP have decided to declare this Christmas season a non- religiously associated gift-giving holiday. We feel that the religious aspect of Christmas has teen forgotten by a lot of people, and that many people are not Christians. Why should non- christians celebrate Christmas when it is not part of their religion? It is because they get caught up in the commercialism of the season. So this year do not wish your friends and relatives a Merry Christmas (unless maybe you are a Christian) but say Happy Non-religiously Associated Gift-giving Holidays instead. As part of the theme of this issue we have some features that will interest aes out the Non-religiously associated gift-giving holiday (aka Christmas) on a shoestring on page 10. Religious Celebrations is on page 12. And remember have a happy non- religiously associated gift-giving holiday. elcome to the Other Press’ non-re igiOus y assosiated. commercial gift- “giving holiday issue! » eee al are by Daniela Zanatta The Christmas season is not always a time for joy and happiness. For some it is a time of depression and loneliness. The number of people who call the Crisis Line increases by ” 20% during the Christmas season. Orfe reason for this can be attributed to the commercialization of Christmas. There are many parents that cannot afford to buy Christmas presents for their kids. This increases the level of stress on the family. Single mothers and out-of-work individuals feel much more pressure with the added expectations placed on them. They want to provide for their family, but outside social pressures make them feel obligated to buy more for their kids. “Life is not like Miracle on 34th Street,” says Arthur Dick, Executive Director of the Crisis Line. There is a false expectancy around Christmas time, people almost expect miracles. Hopes are elevated and problems put aside until the Christmas season is over. Then reality hits again. Other problems, emotional ones, don’t go away. Sometimes they will fade during Christmas, but once the season ends the problems come back, sharp and clear in r people’s minds. “Another reason for more calls at this time of year is that people are lonelier. It’s usually a time for family get-togethers and _ celebrations. However, for some who are away from home, who don’t have family or maybe don’t get along with their family will feel the loneliness.” Crisis Lines are available in most communities to assist people who find themselves in a situation that they are not capable of dealing with alone. “These situations could be anything from loneliness to feeling suicidal.” “The Crisis Line is here to provide support and to give other resources. We do not give advice.” One resources they might suggest is Alcoholics Anonymous. People also call the line for information. Local businesses sometimes ask the Crisis Line for help. “They want to know how to best deal with situations that come up in the work place. The Crisis Line volunteers are trained to handle various work related situations. They face problems such as employee relocation and transition, personal loss, or trauma from lay offs,” says Dick Calls involving child abuse are reported to Social Services. “We are required by law to report the any child abuse we hear about,” Dick noted. Other incidents do not need to be reported to authorities but it is their philosophy to “intercede when.a life is in jeopardy or a crime is being committed. If we know that someone is committing a crime we will intercede.” The Crisis Line also performs non-emergency follow-ups (NEFU). “After the immediate emergency has passed if the senior volunteers think the caller needs further support, then they will phone the caller back to make sure that they have been able to access the resources,” Arthur Dick stated. Foilow-ups are usuaily performed after an abusive situation where the caller may not have been able to access the other resources. “We had a female caller whose son was being abused by her brother-in- law. When she called we gave her the resources to help herself and her son.” ““ We called the proper authorities and told her what we were doing. We encouraged her to stay on the line. She obviously need help, the son definitely needs help and the brother-in-law also needs help.” “In that type of situation we would, with her permission, do a NEFU,” said Dick “Volunteering at the crisis center is very satisfying work,” says Eileen Colotla coordinator of the SFU Crisis Line. “Knowing you are capable of helping people work out their problems is very fulfilling work. Problems do not always get resolved but callers are given other resources to help them solve their own problems.” Volunteers Currently at the Vancouver Crisis Line there are more than 200 volunteers who are trained to talk to callers. “The volunteer process is quite lengthy,” said Dick. Those who wish to volunteer must pick up an application, and fill it out. These applications are quite detailed, asking questions such as how you deal with stress, can you relate to stress, or how you would handle certain situations. “After the application is filled out the applicant will be contacted and invited to an information session.” This gives the applicant an idea of what will be expected of them as volunteers. “One to one interviews will be conducted with a member of staff. After the preliminary work is completed then training can begin. Not all applicants make it through the interview stage.” “We want people who are caring, empathetic and good at listening,” said Dick. “We also need people who are going to make a commitment. Volunteers are expected to put in at least one four hour shift a week, and work at least one midnight to 6 am shift a month.” “We need a commitment for at least a year. We can’t afford to train the people and have them leave within a year.” “There are 60 hours of classroom training which consists of a full Saturday and Wednesday evenings. Once the classroom training is aeliuion alebracions nD ‘wens in a Minute: 20 Shoestring Gifts: 10° _ CD Reviews: 14-17 completed, there will be another 60 hours of training, this time monitored practice.” Here they will do simulations of phone calls and dealing with different situations. Some of the applicants will not make it through the training sessions as they are rigorous and time consuming. Volunteers attend workshops and refresher courses to keep them up to date on any changes that may occur. Volunteers are trained in two areas: answering phones and giving seminars in schools and sometimes businesses. Each year there are 100 volunteers accepted into the program. The training program consists of five groups per year each consisting of 20 people. “This communication and learning. There is a waiting list of volunteers but due to the number of lines that are available there are not enough lines for to accept more volunteers.” “Volunteering is education money can’t buy.” Many skills are developed when volunteering. One of these being listening skills There are only four phone lines at the Crisis Line center. The number of phone lines that are available to the allows for more THE Crisis Lwe 1s Owe PLACE T Cay Cou On). fon) Crisis Line are too few to support the number of incoming calls. “Each day there are approximately 637 busy signals heard by callers. Some of these calls will be repeat callers and others will be people redialling until they get through. There are probably around 100 people that don’t get through at all in any given day.” “It is really frustrating, we have enough volunteers to answer phones but we can’t get more phone lines because we don’t have the funding,” said Dick. Funding for the Crisis Line is provided by a few different sources. 25% of funding from United Way, 7% from Ministry of Social Services, some funds from Greater Vancouver Mental Health and some funds from the City of Vancouver, but as of 1995 the city will no longer be funding the Vancouver Crisis Line. “The City feels that the Crisis Line is a provincial jurisdiction and not municipal.” The Crisis Line budget is about 1/2 million dollars of which they raise half. "We have fundraisers such as bingo or raffles. Last Saturday we had a raffle for a car. The winner was picked by Rick Ley." All calls to the Line are completely anonymous. The only time volunteers take personal information is when they have the callers permission, otherwise no personal information is taken. The Crisis Line has been in existence for 25 years. They recently had the 25th anniversary with former volunteer, Mike Harcourt, giving a presentation. The Greater Vancouver Crisis Line is the only accredited company in BC, one of two in Western Canada and one of six in all of Canada. If you are interested in volunteering you can call the Vancouver Crisis Line business number at 872-1811, they will mail you an application to fill out. If you need someone to talk to please call the Crisis Line. You can look up the number for your municipality in the front cover of the white pages. The number for Vancouver and Burnaby is 872-3311, Coquitlam, New West, Maple Ridge call 931-5996.