Listen Carefully...You Can Make A Difference!

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Do people tend to tell you about their struggles? Do they thank you for being such a good listener? If so, then Response of Suffolk County is looking for people like you! Join their team of volunteer crisis counselors. Learn some rewarding new skills, and have an experience of a lifetime.

RESPONSE of Suffolk County, Inc. is a 24-hour hotline (631-751-7500). We have been the caring voice on the other end of the phone for over 30 years. We are a private, not-for-profit, community-based agency, and in addition to our free, confidential telephone counseling, the hotline offers a current computerized information and referral program connecting callers with the most appropriate community resources to meet their needs.

Volunteer crisis counselors take calls about everything - loneliness, grief, substance abuse, mental illness, family conflict, suicidal thoughts, etc. We respond to over 19,000 calls per year and we provide referrals to community resources. Often we're the first to hear a caller's secrets - there are many struggles that people don't like to discuss with even the best of friends - sexual orientation, STDs, marital difficulties, sexual abuse - and that's when a stranger can make the best listener. We also make telephone "visits" to people who are isolated due to a physical disability or mental illness.