Oak Ridge Today

CONTACT Care Line to offer emotional support through chat, text

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CONTACT Care Line will launch chat and text-based emotional support, the first of its kind in East Tennessee with funding from the Trinity Health Foundation. This summer, CONTACT will pilot the Chat/Text Line in collaboration with community and educational partners in Knox and surrounding counties.

In a similar pilot program, Nevada’s TextToday program found that young people preferred text communication, believing it afforded more privacy and confidentiality than phone conversations. Young people were more likely to seek emotional support from strangers, who they believed would be less judgmental than people they knew, including family and friends.

In our fragmented modern world, the need for online emotional support is critical. Over half of people with mental, emotional, or behavioral health issues suffer their first symptoms in childhood or adolescence, and roughly 14-20 percent of young people experience these problems, according to a 2009 study. [Read more…]

CONTACT Care Line celebrates 40th anniversary Friday

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Deborah Patterson

Deborah Patterson

For 40 years, volunteers with CONTACT Care Line have provided a listening ear to East Tennesseans in crisis, and the Oak Ridge-based nonprofit is inviting the public to a Friday evening of bluegrass music to celebrate its milestone anniversary.

The public is also recognizing CONTACT, with both the city of Oak Ridge and Rep. John Ragan from Tennessee’s District 33 proclaiming November as “CONTACT Care Line Month,” a press release said.

“A lot has changed in 40 years,” said Deb Patterson, CONTACT’s executive director, “but six of our volunteers have been with us from Day One, and what hasn’t changed is that lonely people, people with mental illnesses, the elderly—all of us, really—need someone to talk to every once in a while. It’s going to be special to reach the 40-year milestone and to thank all our telephone workers.”

The 40th Ruby Anniversary Balloon Pop Concert featuring the Ridge City Ramblers will be held from 7-10 p.m. Friday at the Pollard Conference Center in Oak Ridge. The Ramblers will provide a fun mix of bluegrass and Americana music, and there’ll be a prize in every balloon, the press release said. [Read more…]

CONTACT Care Line celebrates 40 years with concert, workshops, new director

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CONTACT Care Line of East Tennessee is marking 40 years of service to neighbors in crisis with a fundraising concert, a new series of listening workshops, a new executive director, and a new look.

The Oak Ridge-based nonprofit fields some 10,000 telephone calls annually from people who are lonely, facing a crisis, and at times contemplating suicide. It is staffed almost entirely by volunteers, including a contingent of University of Tennessee psychology students whose time listening to callers provides valuable experience. [Read more…]