Volunteering During a Pandemic- C. Powell

 Total Volunteer Hours for the Semester = 6.5 hours Volunteer Hours Completed in the Month of February = 4 hours This month I continued my work with the Crisis Textline. This month most of my time was spent talking with people was focused more on determining what resources I had at hand that could benefit these texters more so than typical coping skills, such as writing, music, talking to those they are close with. This month the people I spoke with were more directly impacted by COVID-19 and were trying to cope with the long-term effects that the pandemic can have on one’s mental health and personal relationships. One of the people that I talked with is a frontline worker who is feeling the stress of working in a pandemic while also balancing their mental illness, but I was able to provide them with a resource associated with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which will teach this person further coping skills and strategies similar to those that a therapist might teach you. Talking

 Volunteers Hours Completed in January 2021: 2.5hrs      During this month I continued my previous work with the Crisis Textline and the texters that I interacted with this month tended to have a similar theme of self-harm. I try to go into these conversations without making any assumptions or judgements towards the texters and their situations.  This month I had to take the time to learn about a particular coping mechanism that a texter was using, which I was less familiar with and they had experienced judgement about from those close to them. In this moment it was not my job to critique or give my opinion to the texter regarding their chosen coping mechanism, which from what I was told was not doing any physical harm to them. Instead, I had to maintain focus on what it was the texter was seeking out help with and to then provide them with the support and resources needed so that they felt like they could move forward in their situation. It is important in moments such as these that w