2008 Woodie Awards
Hotline InTouch with crisis
Pretty Rami
Issue date: 12/4/06 Section: Pulse
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Loneliness, depression, anxiety, loss and grief, sexual orientation, trauma, suicide, an encumbrance of psychological disorders: these are the realities of life, realities that UIC volunteers at the InTouch Crisis Hotline support people through daily.
According to InTouch's coordinator, "Our primary goal and mission is to provide ethical, empathic, sensitive, and competent services to those in the community."
Since all calls are anonymous, the hotline provides the comfort of anonymity in a society where a stigma associated with seeking mental help continues to exist. For some, the hotline may be the only help they receive.
UIC's Hotline founder, Dr. Greenwald, addressed the impact of InTouch on many of the hotline's callers: "In the world we live now, we may be the only entry into the field of mental health services."
Greenwald's initial intention was to provide undergraduate students interested in clinical psychology the opportunity to receive training and practical application with the additional benefit of servicing the UIC community.
The success of InTouch was astonishing. The anticipated callers were students, professors and staff from UIC; however, many calls also came from the surrounding community. Students that had been trained mainly to deal with calls concerning recreational drug use due to their assumed population were quickly retrained, instead, for calls dealing with every life crisis imaginable.
InTouch first began as a 24-hour hotline with the reasoning that crisis does not respect time. This distinguished hotline helped people make it through the night, and the students became agents of referral to callers. In subsequent years, InTouch's hours of operation have been reduced due to difficulty in staffing.
The committed volunteers of the InTouch Crisis Hotline are all trained paraprofessional, UIC students. The hotline is open year-round seven days a week from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
UIC students have the opportunity to take advantage of this rare undergraduate experience by enrolling in Psychology 394, a 3-credit hour course. After completion of the course, students are required to volunteer at InTouch for a minimum of eight months.
When asked about their experiences at InTouch, one volunteer remarked, "The hotline not only teaches, it inspires and motivates its members."
If you are interested in joining the volunteers at InTouch, please stop by the Counseling Center office in the Student Service Building to request an application.
Founded in 1975, UIC's InTouch Crisis Hotline is one of the longest running centers in the Midwest and comparable to hotlines nationwide. The hotline is a nonprofit student organization that provides crisis intervention, general counseling, and referrals to the UIC community and nationwide.
InTouch volunteers can be reached at 312-996-5535. To ensure a completely anonymous atmosphere, the identity of all persons affiliated with InTouch along with the center's location is kept confidential.
- Page 1 of 1
According to InTouch's coordinator, "Our primary goal and mission is to provide ethical, empathic, sensitive, and competent services to those in the community."
Since all calls are anonymous, the hotline provides the comfort of anonymity in a society where a stigma associated with seeking mental help continues to exist. For some, the hotline may be the only help they receive.
UIC's Hotline founder, Dr. Greenwald, addressed the impact of InTouch on many of the hotline's callers: "In the world we live now, we may be the only entry into the field of mental health services."
Greenwald's initial intention was to provide undergraduate students interested in clinical psychology the opportunity to receive training and practical application with the additional benefit of servicing the UIC community.
The success of InTouch was astonishing. The anticipated callers were students, professors and staff from UIC; however, many calls also came from the surrounding community. Students that had been trained mainly to deal with calls concerning recreational drug use due to their assumed population were quickly retrained, instead, for calls dealing with every life crisis imaginable.
InTouch first began as a 24-hour hotline with the reasoning that crisis does not respect time. This distinguished hotline helped people make it through the night, and the students became agents of referral to callers. In subsequent years, InTouch's hours of operation have been reduced due to difficulty in staffing.
The committed volunteers of the InTouch Crisis Hotline are all trained paraprofessional, UIC students. The hotline is open year-round seven days a week from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
UIC students have the opportunity to take advantage of this rare undergraduate experience by enrolling in Psychology 394, a 3-credit hour course. After completion of the course, students are required to volunteer at InTouch for a minimum of eight months.
When asked about their experiences at InTouch, one volunteer remarked, "The hotline not only teaches, it inspires and motivates its members."
If you are interested in joining the volunteers at InTouch, please stop by the Counseling Center office in the Student Service Building to request an application.
Founded in 1975, UIC's InTouch Crisis Hotline is one of the longest running centers in the Midwest and comparable to hotlines nationwide. The hotline is a nonprofit student organization that provides crisis intervention, general counseling, and referrals to the UIC community and nationwide.
InTouch volunteers can be reached at 312-996-5535. To ensure a completely anonymous atmosphere, the identity of all persons affiliated with InTouch along with the center's location is kept confidential.
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