Objectives and target audience
The objective of our commitment is to offer discreet help to people in need. A phone call or writing online is for most people simple and uncomplicated: you don’t need to arrange an appointment, you don’t need to go anywhere to get help and you are not being observed.
Every year, we receive over 4000 inquiries from people in various life situations, whether by phone, mail, or chat:
- People looking for clarification and support in interpersonal conversations , whether regarding a specific, highly sensitive experience or their overall life situation,
- People in acute life, relationship, family and suicidal crises,
- People in long-term difficult life situations who suffer from health/mental problems, addictions, loneliness etc.
We try to encourage people in situations of acute distress or in long-term difficult life situations to find access to inner peace, personal strengths and new perspectives in their life. An important objective is also to encourage those seeking advice to trust other people (again) and to accept their help.
Who will actually reply to my call or my message?
Our volunteers are here for you, whether by phone or online. Their role is to offer empathetic and understanding support to those in need by engaging as compassionate and attentive listeners.
They bring diverse personal and professional life experiences, come from different countries, and are aged between 25 and 80. All of them volunteer after being specifically trained for this role.
It goes without saying that our volunteers are not left on their own. They are integrated into a team, supported by professional staff from psychosocial fields and regularly benefit from on-going training as well as individual and group supervision.
Our values and approach
- Anonymity
- Tolerance
- Competence
- Discretion
- Respect
- Solidarity
- Acceptance
- Esteem
- Empathy
For us, it is important to be committed to the values of the humanistic approach, whether in phone and online interactions or within the team itself.
Quality management
In order to meet the challenging task on the phone and online counselling, the members must be able to rely on a high-quality preparation, on-going support and training opportunities. This, as well as administrative tasks, are performed by salaried professionals
A further condition is the good cooperation between the volunteers and the employed staff as well as the representatives in the working groups and committees (board of volunteer members, board of directors).
The institutional conditions, standards and procedures required for this interaction are established in the “Quality Control of SOS Détresse”.