Contact is offering a free training course for prospective crisis hotline volunteers from September 8 to November 18.
There is a choice of either morning or evening courses which teach compassionate listening skills, telephone crisis intervention, suicide prevention and more. Representatives from community programs are speakers on a variety of topics.
The morning courses run on Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and the evening courses run on Tuesdays from 7 to 10 p.m.
Classes are open to anyone age 18 and older. References are required before actual volunteer work begins.
The course is free with the understanding that the trainee must volunteer 100 hours within one year of completing the course. For those who wish to take the training for personal growth and without an obligation to volunteer, the fee is $15o.
A one hour, no obligation, orientation session will be held on September 9 at 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the Pennington United Methodist Church.
The Pennington United Methodist Church is located at 60 South Main Street, Pennington.
More information is online at contactofmercer.org/VolunteerOpportunities.html.