Hello all! My name is Sarah Dzioba and I am a Senior this year, scary enough as that is. For my practicum experience I am interning at Crisis Services, which is conveniently located right down Main Street. (Not so convenient, however, is all the construction that is surrounding it!) I am currently being trained as a CCP (Crisis Counseling Program) intern, where I am learning to become a more effective counselor in the main phone room. We are slowly but surely learning how to take phone calls appropriately, which includes understanding how to talk (and more importantly, listen) to the individual on the other line, obtain important background information on him or her, assess whether it would be more appropriate to transfer the call to a program such as Outreach or another coworker in the vicinity, and so on.

For more information, here's the Crisis Services website. I find that the information is pretty valuable. : )

http://www.crisisservices.org/index.asp

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10/03/09
Hours: 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
(7 hours)

Today was my first day training at Crisis Services. Admittedly, I was pretty nervous when I first walked in the door: I had no idea what to expect! I am training with 7 other volunteers, and am the only intern in our group. Arthur, the man that interviewed me a week or so prior, has become our supervisor and the one in charge of training us. Our training extends throughout the month of October, on every weekend, and after that we will begin our first training shifts. We get 4 shifts that will be supervised before we are on our own. For now, I don't really want to think about that, so I'll just focus on my training! It's kind of scary to think that we will be answering our own calls soon enough.

The day began with Arthur handing us these pretty awesome binders full of Crisis Services information, separated by colorful tabs with numbers on them. These will be our "Bibles" throughout our training, and will surely help us later on when we are answering calls as well. The information is very detailed and extremely helpful, in my opinion. In order to begin to get to know each other, we were "forced" to play the name game at 10:00 in the morning. (where everyone has to say their name and something about themselves; the person after them has to then remember and repeat all the names and character traits of everyone else before them.) Unfortunately, I was the second to last in the circle. It was a pretty fun experience, though. Our group began to laugh and get less nervous around each other.

The day mainly consisted of Arthur reading information from the binder to us, and answering any questions we had. Many of us were getting tired throughout the course of the day, so we took a few breaks and got to know each other a little better. We also had an hour lunch break, where I went to grab some delicious lunch at Streetside cafe and visit my former coworker/friend. Overall, it was a good first day. I learned a lot of new stuff, and boy is there a lot more for me to learn!

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10/04/09
Hours: 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
(14 hours)

Today was my second day of Crisis Services, and it was a lot less awkward than the first. We started the morning off with another fun "get to know each other" exercise. We were handed a piece of paper with a bunch of questions on it, and were to answer 5 that stood out to us. These questions asked us certain things about ourselves, like "What is your favorite sandwhich?" and "How often do you vacuum?" Everyone then told everyone else their answers to their questions, and we all had a good laugh about them. We then took our pictures for our Crisis Services IDs.

There was a lot more information to be read today as well, but I feel that it will be very valuable to me in the future.  Today we also got to listen to some actual live phone calls, which were primarily about homeless issues. We also listened to a recording of a repeat caller, Irene. She seems like a very interesting lady indeed.

For my hour lunch break I headed back to my apartment, and came to the conclusion that I'm definitely staying at Crisis Services for all my lunch breaks thereafter. Driving through a million construction cones does not put one's mind at ease during a lunch hour. I'd much rather relax with a good PB&J sandwich in the break room, chatting with my fellow volunteers.

We ended training with a role-play exercise, where each group of 2 people made up their own scenerio and acted them out. One person would be the caller, and one would be the counselor. My partner and I made up an interesting one where I was a 15-year old pregnant girl (father unknown) with very conservative parents that had no idea what to do. It was undoubtedly more detailed than that, but the end result was that it was suggested I either talk to my parents or call 1-800-abortions 'r us. Needless to say, the role-playing exercise was pretty awkward for all of us, but we did make a good time out of it.

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10/11/09
Hours: 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
(20 hours)

Third day of training going strong! This weekend I had Saturday off for reasons unknown to myself. We started the day with some "brain teasers", where we had to figure out certain scenarios. One involved how a scuber diver had died in the middle of a forest, and another involved a husband killing his wife and getting off free or something like that. The guy sitting next to me figured the first one out right away, but it took us a good 20 minutes at least to understand how this fictional character could get off free...

Today we met two very nice ladies from the Outreach program. Unfortunately I forgot their names, but I'm sure I'll get to know them better as my time at Crisis Services goes on. We went through a Powerpoint slideshow explaining a lot about what Outreach does and does not do, and so on. It also included examples, where we had to think of whether this individual case would be appropriate for Outreach to handle or not. It was pretty informative.

Took my lunch at the break room today, which was a great idea. I talked to my fellow volunteers and learned more about a few of them, which I really enjoyed. We have a great bunch, always with interesting stories to share.

After lunch we looked at a bit more information from the binder and shared our "observation homework assignment" experiences, which were pretty hilarious. We finished up the day with listening to a few recorded calls and doing some more role-playing exercises. I simply got to observe this time, but they were really good. Though we are all nervous about this, I feel like we're learning a lot. We'll be more than prepared to handle calls when the time comes. : ) 

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10/17/09
Hours: 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
(25 hours)

We started off today's training by doing yet another "wake everyone up" exercise. Arthur handed out blank sheets of paper and told us to write down two truths and one lie. We then would all try to guess which one of the three was the lie. Unfortunately, I am a horrible liar. My lie was "I keep finding my clothes in my brother's hamper every time I come home." I am an only child. I found it funny that when it got to my turn, everyone thought one of my truths was a lie except for the guy that sits next to me. (Apparently "I just started a club and our first meeting was yesterday" was too normal to be a truth!) I laughed when he said, "I bet you don't even have a brother!" Low and behold, he was correct. It was a fun way to start off the day, though we did get rather sleepy later on. All the information we learn in training can take a lot out of you.

Today we discussed Child Protective Services, (CPS) child abuse, pedophillia, and the Kids Helpline. We found out that we are indeed mandated reporters while working the CCP room. This means we must report when we suspect a child is being abused, maltreated, or neglected. We do not have to have specific proof, but if we have any indication of this being a possible truth, (a "reasonable cause") we must do something about it. We learned the details of what to include when filing a report, who to send the report to, etc. We went over different types of child abuse and neglect, as well as possible indicators. 

We also went over the Kids Helpline at Crisis Services, which I am quite interested in. As someone who is planning on going to graduate school for school counseling, I really enjoy the idea of working with kids and teenagers. I was sadly disappointed to find out that the chatrooms they once had set up as an addition to the helpline were no longer available. Regardless, we did get a lot of useful information about the phone service and what to expect from callers on that specific line.

The rest of the day was spent listening to another woman discussing homeless issues. We went over procedures for taking these types of calls, and where to direct those who need assistance in this area. It was a lot of information to take in, especially learning about all the homeless shelters and places to refer individuals to. I am pretty nervous about transfering calls in general, but I feel as though I will gain more confidence once I actually get used to going through the motions.

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10/18/09
Hours: 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
(30 hours)

Today began with a "resource assignment", where we took a short trip to the CCP room. Each of us got on a computer, (I doubled up with one of my peers) and we were then told to look up two agencies that would be an appropriate resource for each example. It took me and my partner a while to find two agencies for each of the 14 examples: many of the agencies were very specific in what they offered, when they offered them, and where they were located. This made it difficult to find good resources for the people listed within the examples, but we did our best to make do. We had originally started off typing keywords into the database, (for example: "pregnancy" and "alcoholism") but found out that it was much easier to look through the cateogories that were already listed. After we finished, we headed back to the conference room and we all went over what we had put down for reach question. I took a lot of notes: I feel like this will be really useful in the future. 

After this assignment, we took a 15 minute break where I had some lunch while talking with everyone else. We had fun talking about the October Storm that had happened a while back, and swapped stories.

Around 1:00 p.m., a woman from outreach came in and talked to us about suicide and lethality assessments. Though I had been previously very worried about dealing with suicidal callers, this discussion calmed me down quite a bit. I now have a lot more information on the matter (and many dog-eared pages in my binder) and feel more confident with how to deal with these types of situations. For the last 15 minutes or so of training, Arthur returned and we discussed guidelines on how to deal with "difficult" or "problematic" callers. Today was very informative, and I am beginning to really enjoy being at Crisis Services. As I left the building, I saw that it was sunny out: today is a good day! 

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10/24/09 & 10/25/09

Hours: 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (both days)

(40 hours)

These were my last two days of training! Off to do the real stuff.

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11/12/09

Hours: 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

(44 hours)

Today was my first training shift. I was extremely nervous about going, but once I arrived at Crisis Services I felt myself at ease. I was supervized by a very nice man named Bill, who taught me much more about Homeless issues. I listened in on a lot of calls, and got to know some of the other CCP members a little better. This definitely helped me feel more prepared to take my first call.

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11/16/09

Hours: 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

(48 hours)

Today I took my first call! I was nervous, but I did it. Ironically enough, my first call was a hang up. Success! I took a total of around 5 calls today. My first real call consisted of a lady asking for counseling services for her daughter, and even though I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing she was very kind about it and understood. She told me that I had helped out a lot, which made me feel better about the whole thing. I took another hang up, and another call was a simple referral. My last call of the night, my personal favorite, was 18 minutes long and with a repeat caller. I enjoyed this very much, since I simply listened to her, gave her some options, and told her to keep optimistic. She thanked me for all of our support, thusly ending my shift with an uplifting note. I still have a lot to learn, but I'll gain more experience along the way. You just have to "dive" into the calls, I've learned: training and information will only get you so far. Regardless, today was a great experience.

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11/18/09

Hours: 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

(52 hours)

I had a lot of fun today. I got to work with my coworker and supervisor for the day, Andrea, and one of my training buddies, Tania. I took a few calls, including two repeat callers and a referral. I tried to pick up more calls today, but a lot of them ended up being hangups! I listened in on some calls as well and got to know people better. I found out where the Outreach room was, right across the hall ironically enough, and got a lot more useful information from Andrea. I'm feeling less nervous about the whole thing, which is great. I am really enjoying my 4-8 shift, and plan on continuing to plan my shifts at this time. Tomorrow is my last shift for this month, and then I will have 3 more shifts in December before Winter Break. I also have a reconvening with Arthur and the other people I trained with the night before Thanksgiving break, where I will pick 2 calls to discuss. Hopefully I'll have some more calls by then!

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11/19/09

Hours: 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

(56 hours)

 Today was a great day for me at Crisis Services. I took 5 or 6 calls that were not hangups and not repeat callers! A good majority of them were referrals, since we did not provide the services the callers were requesting, but I tried to be as supportive as possible. I apparently got very positive feedback from one of the callers as well, who said I was very helpful in getting her over to the correct department. I am still new at getting to know all the information so this made me feel very good about everything. I'm starting to get better aquainted with the system now, and I really love my coworkers. It's a really great place to be. I always know I have support there; you are never alone in taking calls. Today was my last shift for this month and I now have a few calls that I actually feel slightly confident with. I will choose 2 of these to listen to at our reconvening next week.