Frances Harrington-Dix of West Windsor has only been working with Contact, a telephone help line for people in crisis, for 15 months, but is already a trainer and a member of the board of directors.##M:[more]##
Contacts’s annual gala is Saturday, November 15, at the Chauncey Conference Center in Princeton. Tickets are $125.
A graduate of Thomas Edison State College with a degree in art, Harrington-Dix received her master’s degree in counseling and human services from the College of New Jersey. She works as a parent educator through parent support groups and schools.
Harrington-Dix, a licensed professional counselor, maintains a private practice and works in an Alzheimer study group with cognitive instruments to measure functions. She worked in the Traumatic Loss Coalition, where she was an educator teaching parent groups about adolescent mental illness and suicide risk. She met Eleanor Letcher, the director of Contact, when she presented a talk for the group. When Harrington-Dix saw an ad in a newspaper seeking volunteers she signed up for the 10-week training program last September and has been on the phone lines since January.
Harrington-Dix moved to West Windsor 22 years ago. Her husband, Robert, is the United States head of clinical pharmacology with Sanofia Aventis.
Their son, Andrew, 26, is in graduate school at the University of Chicago. Their daughter, Laura, 24, a graduate of St. Lawrence University, works in the ethics department at the United Nations in New York City. Their son, Timothy, 14, is a freshman at High School South.
The phone lines are very different every day. “Some days can be quiet, with only a few phone calls and the problems are serious to the people calling,” says Harrington-Dix. “A lot of the callers are frequent callers with persistent problems. Calling Contact is their way to cope and some of them really have nobody else to talk to.”
“The rough times are when you get a call from someone contemplating suicide,” she says. “Some calls are third party calls, it’s a friend who is worried about them and they want advice.” Depending on the situation they will be referred to a crisis center or mobile outreach.
This year’s honorees include Jeri Bogan Zielinski, president of the Families In Crisis Foundation, and Elaine Harmon, Adopt-A-Platoon Mom. Contact will also announce its newest program for the military initiative, It’s about Hope, a nationwide suicide prevention program that takes calls from active duty military personnel, veterans, and their families. The Contact hotline number is 800-273-talk (8255).
— Lynn Miller
A Night of Magic, Contact of Mercer County, Chauncey Center, Lawrenceville, 609-883-2880. Saturday, November 15, 6 p.m.
