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October- Volunteering with Crisis Textline

This month I opted to continue my work with the Crisis Textline and completed another four hours of volunteer work with this organization. As a reminder from my post from September, the Crisis Textline is an organization that works to provide aid to those that feel like they are in crisis.  This organization defines a crisis as anything that our texter feels is a crisis, this allows us to work with people going through a wide range of difficulties in life.  This month I worked with people who were going through a topic that I had yet to work with anyone on yet. The impacts of living in a pandemic. Although people across the world have felt the impacts of COVID-19 it was a different experience to try and help someone cope with a situation where isolation is a key part of remaining healthy. I was able to relate to this texter on a different level then I have with many other texters, sure I have related to those who also experience anxiety and depression, but there were always factors key to their situation which allowed me to easily maintain a sense of separation from their issue. However, this particular texter this month was experiencing similar things that I am right now, isolation in the workplace or school in my situation, isolation from family partly due to distance, and increased feelings of stress and anxiety as a result of all of these factors. During this conversation, all I really wanted to do was talk to this texter like I would someone I know personally, however, that would be inappropriate given the setting that I was working with this texter in. My volunteer experience this month served as a reminder that I should always be able to separate my personal feelings from my work so that I can effectively aid the people who are reaching out for help. If I had spoken to this texter as I would a friend then I would have been doing that texter a great disservice and would have been in a way serving myself because there is a sense of relief that can come from talking to another person about your troubles. If I took anything away from my experiences volunteering this month it was that I need to always keep the texter's interest in mind and separate my own personal feelings from the situation at hand so that I can efectively do my job. I am excited to see what my experiences with this organization will be when I continue my work with them in November.

Hours Volunteered = 4




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