Conference paper
THE HELP-LINE “INVITO ALLA VITA”: A NEW PROJECT FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION IN TRENTINO REGION
Wilma Di Napoli
; Mental Health Department, Trento, Italy
Olaf Andreatta
; Mental Health Department, Trento, Italy
Abstract
Invito alla Vita" is a community-based suicide prevention project that officially started in Trentino in late 2008. The project was
promoted by the local Health Services, trying from the beginning to involve other community subjects, and has been working over
five years and a half in different directions, particularly promoting a phone help-line.
The aims of the Invito alla Vita (IaV) Help Line have been clear from the beginning: decrease the sense of loneliness, offer
encouragement and support, promote engagement with health services, reduce stigma and prejudice. Contrary to popular
misconceptions, talking with people about suicide will not increase suicide risk, neither will it induce patients to commit suicide.The
volunteers involved in the IaV help-line offer people empathic listening without judgment and easy tips, to reduce loneliness, sadness
and supply reassurance that other people care.
In this study we tried to deepen our knowledges about the volunteers’ motivations and necessities to use them for creating a
better system of support: we realized indeed that continuous training and supervision, along with official awards given by community
institutions, are basic factors to sustain the volunteers’ motives to cooperate with the help line.
Keywords
suicide prevention; help line; volunteers
Hrčak ID:
265710
URI
Publication date:
5.11.2014.
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