Roles of a Listener on Removing Chains support site

The following details the general roles for a volunteer Listener on Removing Chains live chat upport. As a Removing Chains helper you are treasured by us. We are grateful for the commitment to help people become strong survivors. We know this can be an equally valuable experience for you as it is for those you reach out to on our site.  We are excited to have you consider joining us!

General Roles
Requirements
Suicide or Active Child Abuse
Listeners Help us Raise Funds
Cautions for Listeners
Monitor Guest Chat & Welcome Rooms

In general the role of a Listener on Removing Chains survivor support site includes;

• Helping individuals open up about their problems or whatever their reason for using the site.
• Helping them feel safe and at ease. Encourage them to use our site as their daily oasis, especially if they face regular bullying, other forms of abuse, or regular anxious moments in their day.
• Encouraging survivors to also join any of our Removing Chains social groups on the site that fit them. This lets everyone post items for comment by others at any time they can get on.
• Informing that Greeters, Listeners, Mentors and most of our Survivors Coaches do NOT take the place of professional psychologists, counselors or therapists. We will attempt to find them a professional near them whenever that is needed.
• Suggesting articles, documents, and video resources from our site and other sites, including books they can get that can help them on their healing journey. (Share these resources with us before sharing with the person so we can approve of their content. This also allows us to seek the author for permission to share it within our resource library as well. Email submission ideas to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Helping room discussions flow and discourage arguing. (Encourage those to agree to disagree)
• NEVER share personal email addresses or social links with a user. Chat's are monitored and any volunteer doing so will be removed and blocked from use of our site. The "clients" we serve and their safety our our top priority. Even if they don't realize the potential for something bad to happen by sharing their emails or personal accounts, we do and we will not allow it. 

Requirements to be a Listener on Removing Chains;

• We ask for 2 to 4 hours per week. Select times that work for you. As you are blessed by helping more people as a Listener we know you will want to be available more and more.
• Helpers must use their real name as their username like this; first name followed by first letter of last full name. This shows transparency to the people you are helping and gives them a safe feeling. Once you are accepted as a Listener we will add _Lstnr to the end then you will use that when logging in. (example= TraceyS_Lstnr)
• Everyone applying as a helper in our chat rooms MUST be willing to submit to a background check.Our victims / survivors deserve to know they are safe with us! The cost of this will be absorbed by us but we ask you to help b doing the following;
• Register your completed hours after every visitthrough our volunteer system. This is as important for you if you must report to a volunteer service as it is for us in applying for support grants and more.
• Submit visit notes using our email system. To This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This should include details of anything important to their case that was discussed. Other examples might be; The person is feeling stronger each day since joining; They felt especially anxious or depressed today; If this was their first visit; Someone did something hurtful to them today OR someone helped them feel stronger today.
• Removing Chains is a nonprofit site run byArk of Hope for Children.We ask each volunteer to start and promote their own Removing Chains Team fundraiser as part of our Crowdrise.com team. In this way we work together to make our support community financially stable and strong.
• Listeners can apply to become a Mentor once 30 hours of registered listening hours have been completed.

Suicide or Active Child Abuse

If a person says they are suicidal try to calm them by all means available. Get assistance from another Listener, Mentor or Coach as well. Share with the person the crisis hotline numbers under the resources tab for victim services in the countries we serve more regularly. Encourage them to call if they are not calming down and contact Blair or another Coach by all means possible. If we have to contact authorities to save their life, we will.

If a young person says they are current victims of child abuse, child trafficking or another form of physical harm contact a Coach by all means possible. Include details in a report to us as well.

Removing Chains volunteers help us raise funds for the site via Crowdrise

A "Listener" for Removing Chains is loosely defined as a person who helps survivors find support, break their silence and reach goals that will hopefully free them to thrive. Of course we do things such as to help room discussions flow, but especially we help individuals open up about their problems or whatever their reason for using the site. Listeners, Mentors and most of the Coaches on Removing Chains guide and listen but we do NOT take the place of professional psychologists, counselors or therapists. While some of our Coaches may be professional therapists, we will work to guide survivors in need towards professionals who can help them in the psychology and legal fields.

If a survivor says they are suicidal try to calm them by all means available. We do have crisis hotline numbers under the resources tab for victim services in the countries we serve more regularly. Urge them to contact any of those numbers, including getting the number for them. If suicidal talk persists we will have to contact the authorities. This is for the person's protection, even if from themselves. This is NOT action taken AGAINST anyone, but FOR their well-being. If someone says they are suicidal contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if no Mentors or Coaches are online to help at the moment.

Cautions for Listeners

Be aware of your own limitations strengths and weaknesses - If someone starts getting into something you do not feel prepared to deal with, please say so. Especially if what they are sharing feels overly uncomfortable for you read. You do NOT have to listen to everything! If you get uncomfortable, say so and suggest that you will assist them in finding a different helper.

It's OK to say, "I can't right now" - Sometimes we all have bad days or our own big problem. This especially applies if you have been the victim of anything yourself and you are still dealing with it. Sometimes we all need support or maybe feel we have nothing left to "give" at the moment. Any time this is the case for you PLEASE do not skip coming to Removing Chains, but rather come and let your own needs be known.

You are NOT some survivors new pet - You do not need to let them take all of your time on Removing Chains. This is actually a healthy boundary for them to learn. As a Listener you still want relationships, and may have some of your own issues you need to talk with others about. If someone is taking all of your time every day PLEASE let us know. We will help you deal with it gently. Please do not let something like that be the cause for you to stop coming to Removing Chains.

Monitor Guest & Welcome Chat Rooms

We now have a Guest chat for site visitors that have not registered yet! This allows them to check it out first. Please also monitor, or hang out in the Guest Room as well as the Welcome Lobby. We do not want serious things discussed in the Guest Room as the public can view what has been discussed in it. As soon as guests are comfortable encourage them to register so they will be able to join any of the rooms and share more personally once they are logged in.

Of course, just like in the other rooms, the Guest Room will allow for private chat. So if they are in need and unwilling to join the site yet, invite them to private chat first. Also you are not expected to monitor these rooms if you are involved in a serious public or private discussion about someone's needs. Of course we can always tab back and forth between these public and private chats but please do not over burden yourself. Know your limits!