FREE PUBLICATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS: HELLO, HELP! About specifics of telephone counseling due to pandemic

In the changed working conditions of our colleagues, mental health professionals across Croatia who, due to the pandemic with the coronavirus, can no longer receive clients in the usual way, but counseling is done over the phone, there is a need for an educational manual on telephone counseling other than live counseling. Considering that Brave Phone experts have been educating European experts in this field for two decades, and some former volunteers are now employees of the Zagreb Child and Youth Protection Center, we decided to update the existing telephone consultation guide “Hello, help!” to our fellow psychologists in need. You can download the manual in PDF format here (on Croatian language).

From the Foreword:

Childhood and adolescence are a sensitive and vulnerable period in which love, protection, acceptance and support are extremely important. During this period, a base was created for all subsequent relationships, both with peers and with partners, children, friends. Today, when parents have less and less time for their children, and society gives them negative models of identification through the media, children have fewer and less significant adults who will listen, give them enough time and attention, and provide them with adequate protection. It is the responsibility of society to provide adequate assistance to children and their families in situations where the family does not have sufficient resources to solve the problems on its own.

Help lines are one of these options and can often be the first place available for children and adults to get advice and support from an educated adult. The basic idea of every helpline, especially when we are called by children and young people, is to induce and encourage callers to seek help and support to cope with the problems, difficult and painful experiences, crises, challenges and dilemmas that life brings to them in a more successful and constructive way.

The basic purpose and idea of this handbook is to convey theoretical knowledge gained through formal and additional education, as well as practical experience in the operation of the Brave Phone and Zagreb Child and Youth Protection Center and to offer practical guidance for counseling with children and young people by telephone to experts who will be on the front line, to those on duty on the phone, in the middle of the night, and on the other hand, they will hear a scared child. Despite all our knowledge and work experience, it is helpful to have a friend at such times, who we hope you will find in this guide.

Dear colleagues, thank you on behalf of the entire community for selfless and voluntary engagement. If you have any questions regarding the specifics of telephone counseling, especially with children and young people, please contact mia.roje@poliklinika-djeca.hr and we will provide consultations with one of the experts of the Brave Phone or the our Center, who participate in the education and supervision of volunteer counseling lines.

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Disclaimer: This is unofficial translation provided for information purposes. Zagreb Child and Youth Protection Center can not be held legally responsible for any  translation inaccuracy.