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Lifeline is the name of a free, 24 hour telephone
counselling service established in 1963 in Sydney,
Australia, by the late Reverend Dr Sir Alan Walker
of the Methodist Central Mission. Several other
organisations following the same principles and
standards were subsequently formed in other countries.
In Australia, Lifeline provides telephone counselling
to members of the public via a network of Lifeline
Centres maintained by trained volunteers. As at
February 2005, there were 42 Lifeline Centres
providing services from almost 60 locations, with
about 5000 staff handling calls and another 5000
volunteers involved with fundraising and administration.
For the year July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, Lifeline
received over half a million telephone calls.
In the same period volunteer telephone counsellors
listened for more than 500,000 hours.
Lifeline is part of an international network,
and through its affiliation with LifeLine International,
has centres in nineteen countries. Lifeline is
also a member of the Volunteer Emotional Support
Helplines (VESH), a partnership between Befrienders
Worldwide, International Federation of Telephone
Emergency Services (IFOTES) and LifeLine International.
This network of volunteer counsellors provides
services in 61 countries.
Rev Walker was inspired to establish Lifeline
after realizing that he alone did not have the
time or resources to provide sufficient attention
and help to the increasing number of people facing
difficulties and personal crises who were contacting
him for assistance.
Following two years of planning and preparation,
a nine month training course for 150 people, the
renovation of a century old building owned by
the Methodist Central Mission in downtown Sydney,
and the listing of the Lifeline telephone number
on the emergency page of the telephone directory,
the first call to the service was received on
March 16, 1963.
Shortly after the service opened, it was featured
in an article in TIME magazine*, which led to
the establishment of similar services around the
world. The first international convention of Lifeline
was held in Sydney in August 1966 to guide the
development of Lifeline services and to establish
quality standards, which led to the formation
of Lifeline International.
Although all Lifeline Centres adopt the same
standards, different names are used in different
countries. For example, in Canada the service
is called Telecare; in Japan, Inochi no Denwa
(meaning "life phone"); and in the United
States of America, Contact. There are currently
about 14 Lifeline member organisations
around the world.
In 1999, Lifeline International and similar organisations
such as Befrienders International and International
Federation of Telephonic Emergency Services (IFOTES)
signed a memorandum of understanding and pledged
to work together to provide an effective telephone
crisis counselling service throughout the world.
From www.wikipedia.org
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