TES quality: helplines, resource for society 

Parallel lecture (P21)

PHONE COUNSELLING SERVICES AS AN AREA OF HOPE FOR SOCIETY
Jodok MOOSBRUGGER 

Developments and changes in our society result in new and different challenges in telephone counselling services. The group of people who make use of telephone counselling service options and are able to make use of them is getting larger and their needs, expectations and demands are becoming more varied. Gradual impoverishment, the increase in elderly people, changes to family situations, precarious employment relationships, depletion of social and medical care are major causes of this. At the same time, the rapidly developing forms of communication technology are available to everyone. These are increasingly used as a matter of course in all of their forms and are considered to be equal to a phone call. The possibilities for shaping contacts are therefore broadening. Telephone counselling services can therefore be seen as an area of hope for society which can fulfil important human needs in a wide variety of ways. The challenging area of development for telephone counselling services is dealing with societal changes, the use of a wide range of communication technologies and forms of communication which go beyond one-on-one conversations over the phone. How and where could telephone counselling services develop further in order to continue to be able to make their valuable contribution in a meaningful and effective manner in the future even with changing social conditions? I would like to address this question and possible answers in my talk.