Ross asked that the hotline office location not be divulged, both to protect the confidentiality of the callers and for the safety of the volunteers. Wide Variety of Callers Callers to the hotline come from all ethnicities and backgrounds, according to Fitzmaurice. We had a caller who just lost his partner of fifty years and was dealing with all aspects of the grieving process. We have an agoraphobic caller, who is so afraid of going outside that she calls for support to go to a doctor's appointment. We have people who are despondent over a breakup and feel that they can't go on.
Sexual issues play a large role in phone calls.
Hotline volunteers have handled callers with sexual identity crises, like the woman who was taking hormones to become a man and was having second thoughts. Motivated Staff and Volunteers Ross, who is in his mid-40s, was trained as a journalist. His motivations for running the hotline are both personal and political. We are a helping network. We are available 24 hours a day.