Dec 7

Howdy, long time no see, eh? How have you been? Yeah, me too. Crazy about that, huh?

Well, okay, in reality things have been pretty all over the place in my personal life, which I’m not going to stick out here all out on the public internets. That’s not what I came here for. I came to tell you all about this great organization I’ve recently gotten involved with.

Coming home in a terrible mood made me want to focus on the whole reason I left the house today– training to work on the Samaritans 24-hour helpline as a “befriender.”

The commitment is intense: after an 8 hour day today, I have two more 8-hour training sessions the next two Sundays. After that, there are some training shifts. Once I’m fully trained, I am required to put in one four-hour shift a week, plus one eight-hour overnight (11pm-7am) shift per month. But I can already tell what an incredible experience this is going to be. So if you’re in Boston and looking for a way to give back, this is a great place to go.

You can also volunteer in other ways, like doing office work, or helping with the survivors program for grief counseling, if you’ve lost someone to suicide. They also have a teen program for HS students. In addition, there’s always the dolla dolla bill route, or in-kind services, or even stuff like office supplies or snacks.

Obviously I won’t be talking much about it, here or anywhere else, due to confidentiality and privacy and all of that. But if you have any more general questions, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can tell you.