1. New Hope is a Christian ministry. To volunteer as a New Hope Counselor you need to be committed to Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. As a New Hope Counselor your intention needs to be to serve humanity and to help hurting people as Jesus Christ modeled. As a New Hope Counselor you are called to live a committed and responsible life and counsel others in a manner consistent with the teaching of the Christian church. (See New Hope's Statement of Purpose & Mission.)
2. New Hope is a ministry of the Crystal Cathedral. Volunteers at New Hope from other churches are treated as "associate members" of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries. Even if you do not regularly attend the Crystal Cathedral or view the Hour of Power, it is important that as a New Hope counselor you affirm and value this ministry, the positive Christian theology of Dr. Schuller, and the Reformed Church of America, to which the Crystal Cathedral belongs. (See Crystal Cathedral Ministries Statement of Purpose & Mission and the Reformed Church of America Statement of Faith.)
3. New Hope does not discriminate against callers, other volunteers, or others. We welcome men and women of any race, cultural background, or socioeconomic status to our New Hope family. We do not tolerate discrimination or prejudice. If you feel you have been mistreated in this way please talk to a New Hope staff person. God loves everyone and we intend to do the same. (If due to a personal prejudice, or some other reason, you are uncomfortable trying to support a particular caller you should ask that caller to please call back and talk to another counselor. Say something like, "I'm sorry but I don't feel able to help you at this time. Please call back and talk to one of our other counselors.")
4. Volunteers are not to counsel on the phones or on the internet when under the influence of alcohol or another non-prescribed drug.
5. New Hope Volunteers are asked to commit to at least one year of service. Commitment to a year of service is very helpful to New Hope. It is a beneficial trial period for you and a time for the New Hope staff to decide if we have a good fit for a continuing relationship. During your first year you will receive extra supervision and feedback from staff, assigned trainer(s), and your Day Leader. Also, during your first year we ask that you attend all continuing education classes. (If for some reason you cannot attend a certain class talk to the Director of Training and ask if you can purchase a tape.) At the end of your first year as a New Hope Counselor we will honor you for your service by presenting you with your "New Hope Wings."
6. Volunteers need to commit to keeping their scheduled shifts on the phones or on the internet (which in most cases is four hours every other week). If because of an emergency, or for some other reason, you cannot keep your scheduled shift then please find your own replacement. Start by calling the person who covers your shift on the opposite week or another volunteer who might be available. Whether or not you are able to find a replacement you must contact your Day Leader or a New Hope staff person as soon as possible. On the other hand, do not serve on the phones or on the internet if you are not scheduled, unless you get permission from your Day Leader or New Hope staff. (Of course, during business hours the New Hope staff welcomes you to come up and talk to us at any time.)
7. Ongoing and open communication with New Hope staff is essential. If you have a problem with a caller or another volunteer or if you have a personal problem that is impairing your counseling ministry please talk with a New Hope staff person or your Day Leader. We want to care for you and to help you grow in your ministry. From time to time one of us may talk with you to give you feedback and encouragement in your counseling.
8. New Hope is a crisis counseling center. Our primary mission is to prevent suicides and intervene in crises. New Hope is not a prayer line or a theological debate line. Volunteers are not on the phones or the internet for just friendly conversation, but to be available to help people in crisis and other hurting people.
9. New Hope counselors offer gracious support to hurting callers. In your counseling ministry you need to listen with compassion, verbalize empathic support by reflecting back the caller's feelings and making supportive statements. Offer a helping hand of encouragement through goal setting, crisis intervention, challenging destructive behavior, referrals to community agencies, prayer, or reference to an appropriate Scripture passage. You are not to condemn or criticize any caller no matter what the caller's problem or sin is. Keep the conversation focused on the caller's needs and problems, not yours. You are not an advice-giver. Encourage callers to make their own decisions. (On occasion, an experienced volunteer who has thoroughly listened to the caller's problem may gently and tentatively offer a helpful suggestion for the caller to consider, which may sound like this, "It seems it might be helpful if you consider..").
10. Don't participate in sexually inappropriate calls or other inappropriate calls. If a caller is masturbating, using sexual language, divulging intimate sexual details, or being seductive during the call you should confront the caller's behavior in a kindly manner and invite them to talk appropriately about something they need help with. If they won't be appropriate you should offer a friendly goodbye and hang up. You shouldn't condone or condemn callers who masturbate excessively or have other sexual problems. Instead try to understand and support such callers as long as they are appropriately seeking help. Of course, you should never divulge personal sexual information to a caller. Other inappropriate calls include callers who are drunk, on drugs, overmedicated, actively psychotic, abusive, or belligerent. (See "Setting Boundaries with Difficult Callers.")
11. The identity of those who call New Hope is confidential.While you should seek to know the first name, city, and age of a caller in order to establish a more meaningful personal contact, you should not try to find out other identifying information (like last name, address, or phone number). Exceptions to protecting a caller's identity include if a caller is requesting you send materials or if the caller is acutely suicidal, homicidal, or abusing a child or an elder. Never disclose information about one caller to another caller or to anyone outside of New Hope. On the other hand, you do need to disclose all pertinent information to the New Hope staff; never comply with a caller's request to keep information secret.
12. Volunteer counselors are not to establish relationships with callers outside of New Hope. Always use your alias with callers, never use your real full name. Do not initiate contact with callers by phone, chat room, letter, e-mail, or visitation unless specifically directed to do so by a New Hope staff person as a part of your New Hope service. This policy is to protect the caller, you, New Hope, and the Crystal Cathedral Ministries.
13. Volunteering at New Hope is a ministry. You will not be paid. Do not use New Hope telephones or internet for business or personal purposes. (Of course, in the event of an emergency you may call or receive a call from a family member or close friend.) Never solicit business from other callers. Never solicit business from other volunteers while on duty and never phone, mail, or e-mail business solicitations to other volunteers. The rewards of freely volunteering your time, energies, and gifts with New Hope are indeed plentiful: friendship, family belonging, being used by God to minister to others in need, growing in Christian character, learning new things about yourself and others - just to name a few.
14. Internet counselors: never give out your passwords to anyone. Your personal password is unique and it identifies you and connects you to your online conversations and all your activities on the computer. The New Hope Counselor website password also needs to be carefully protected, as this website contains confidential information and training material not intended for the public.
15. Internet counselors: be very careful what you say to online chatters. Every word of correspondence between New Hope Online Counselors and callers may be computer saved or printed by the caller. In order to ensure that we provide quality counsel and to limit our liability New Hope will record on its data base every word of every online conversation and monitor those conversations. As long as you do your best to implement your New Hope training and to follow the New Hope Policies and New Hope Online Supplemental Policies you'll do fine. If you have any problems we will help you and re-train you.
16. Volunteers may be asked to resign from New Hope at any time by the Executive Director or the Operations Director. In the rare instances in which this has happened it has been due to a breach of one of the above policies.
17. If a volunteer resigns or withdraws from New Hope they agree to keep information about callers confidential, to speak respectfully of New Hope and the Crystal Cathedral Ministries, and to return their New Hope badge and parking pass.

 

Back to Pre-Application