Education and Debriefing: Strategies for Preventing Crises in Crisis-Line Volunteers

Crisis-line volunteers are often exposed to horrific accounts of human pain & suffering which may affect their personal well-being & influence their decision to quit. Educating & debriefing the volunteer are 2 strategies which may prevent the onset of compassion fatigue & volunteer resignation. Debriefing is viewed as an effective strategy for volunteers as it has been found to be successful in assisting other helpers in many different contexts to cope & deal with the traumatic events they experience or hear about. (25 refs.)