A family tragedy drew Mike Alborough to being a Lifeline volunteer, but the healing process he has undergone since joining has kept him aligned to the organisation.
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The lives of Mr Alborough and his wife Maria were turned upside down a few years back when their son James took his own life.
Keen to try and help other families avoid the same terrible situation, he became a crisis supporter with Lifeline.
Now, he finds that by helping others he is helping himself as well.
“Oh definitely. I hate the thought that anyone will go through what we went through,” Mr Alborough said.
“It was a very tough time but to have this now has helped me. I’ll never stop grieving but I suppose in some aspects it helps with the healing process, just knowing that I am hopefully helping other people when they are in tough situations.”
Mr Alborough is one of about 10 trained crisis supporters that work out of Lifeline Central West’s Dubbo office on a rostered basis.
They take calls from all parts of the country, and the work is varied.
The eight hours or so that Mr Alborough spends on the phones each week covers an array of different topics.
“It’s not all suicides but some of it can certainly be pretty heavy stuff,” he said.
“Sometimes you get off a call and you need to just walk away and clear your head, sometimes you can just move on to the next call.
“Some calls last an hour, some last six minutes.
“It’s varied from shift to shift but I walk away every time hoping that I’ve made life that little bit easier for the people that have felt the need to call.
“I’m not a trained psychologist or advice giver. It’s more about listening to people, identifying their issues and letting them know there is someone willing to listen.”
With RUOK Day and World Suicide Awareness Day looming next week, Lifeline Central West is in the process of recruiting for new volunteers to man the phones in the Dubbo office.
Comprehensive training is provided, and because it is a voluntary involvement the roster is malleable around the times volunteers are available.
Asked what he would say to anyone thinking of becoming a crisis supporter, Mr Alborough was frank.
“Look, I don’t think its for everybody but I think everybody should consider it,” he said.
“It’s a different kind of volunteering. It’s not coaching a sport team or helping cook a barbecue. It has to be something you can handle because it can get to you at times.”
Anybody interested in gaining information about being a crisis supporter is urged to visit Lifeline’s Dubbo branch in Darling Street, or email srobinson@lifelinecentralwest.org.au