Free video training is now available for local churches to equip their volunteers to offer telephone support to those in need in their community.
Call and Care, the new initiative has been developed by Premier Lifeline: the National Christian Helpline with funding from the UK Government Coronavirus Emergency Fund.
At a time when meeting together is severely restricted, many churches are already keeping in touch with the members of their communities, thereby reinforcing a sense of belonging and increasing well-being. The twelve short videos from Call and Care can help prepare the team of call-makers for their role.
One early participant in the online training said: “I have been volunteering since the start of the epidemic as a caller with our local Advice Bureau. I just wish this incredibly good training had been available before I started…These training videos are really good and so well thought though and, for a volunteer who is coming from a Christian perspective, it gives a real context for the call they have answered.”
The video topics are:
1. Welcome and Introduction
2. It’s Good to Talk
3. Three Levels of Support
4. First Steps… to Setting up a Team
5. Search for a Good Listener
6. Whose call is it Anyway?
7. Do not take you own Agenda
8. Living at a Time of Intense Fear
9. Maintaining Well-being in a Challenging World
10. Looking after Yourself
11. Keeping Prayer Simple
12. Finding Faith in Uncertainty
For information, to view the free videos and to sign-up please visit the Call and Care site
Premier, which started as a London-based Christian radio station, is a national multi-media organisation and one of CTE’s Bodies in Association.