Contact:	Arlene Klemow	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	908/301-1899	March 2008

 

CONTACT & Rutgers Group Team Up to Serve Callers

Central New Jersey — CONTACT We Care, the 24-hour caring & crisis hotline serving central and northern New Jersey, is proud to announce that it has teamed up with the Scarlet Listeners, a 36-year-old Rutgers University student volunteer group providing free and confidential peer counseling for Rutgers students and members of the surrounding New Brunswick community. Beginning in recent months, the Scarlet Listeners agreed to serve as a backup service for CONTACT’s Sunday through Thursday evening shifts.

“Through conversation with the founder and former faculty advisor of the Scarlet Listeners, Professor David Chandler, we were pleased to create this mutually beneficial collaboration,” said David Owens, executive director. “The Scarlet Listeners are providing an invaluable service by covering some of our shifts at CONTACT, and they in turn, appreciate the opportunity to utilize their skills and provide the gift of listening on a wider scale.”

CONTACT We Care provides the gift of listening to callers who are lonely, depressed, stressed or suicidal. The 33 year-old hotline answers calls to its local number 908/232-2880, as well as the national suicide prevention hotline – 1-800-SUICIDE.

Just as CONTACT Listeners provide empathetic, non-judgmental support to callers, the Scarlet Listeners are trained to listen, explore feelings, and help callers identify problems and work toward appropriate solutions. To complement the Scarlet Listeners intensive 60-hour training program, CONTACT conducted two custom-tailored training sessions for the students.

“We have been so impressed with the quality and commitment of service by the Scarlet Listeners,” said Owens. “They consistently provide high-quality, detailed call reports. They are open-minded and have a tremendous desire to help!”

For more information about CONTACT We Care, or to volunteer for the hotline, please call 908/301-1820.