Dottie King

In September 2005, Dottie King found one more way to give back to her community by attending the training and becoming a Crisis Line Specialist. After seeing a billboard with CONTACT’s volunteer opportunity information on it, she immediately called to get enrolled in the class.

Dottie took a suicide call from a woman that was on the verge of ending her life but decided to call CONTACT before she completed the act. “Although it was a suicide call, she was very open and receptive to words of encouragement and just having someone there to listen to her.” Dottie recalls, “The call lasted for about an hour and when the call was coming to an end, she thanked me but the most impactful part of the entire call was that she called back to tell me how grateful she was that she had called CONTACT and that she loved me.”

“Dottie’s has a willingness to work extra shifts, awareness of the benefits of using the model with the caller and in her own life. Her advice to new volunteers was quite simple: “Make sure you listen with an open mind and an open heart.”