Commitments of Volunteering

If you decide to volunteer as a 2-1-1 Big Bend hotline counselor (and we hope you will!) and you are accepted into a training class, we ask you to make the following commitments:

Commitment to the Training Schedule
Attendance and punctuality are very important during training. A new topic is covered during each session, and those who arrive late or not at all are at a great disadvantage in the learning process. Also, we have found that attendance and punctuality at training are good indicators of how dependable a volunteer will be when covering assigned hotline shifts. For that reason, we ask that you make an honest assessment of your time and your ability to commit to training before signing up.

Commitment to the Learning Process
In order for training to be effective and productive, we ask that you participate actively and honestly to develop the skills you will need to be a successful hotline counselor. You will be expected to read assigned sections from the training manual before most training sessions. These readings are brief, but essential to your learning. We want you to be the best hotline counselor you can be, and to feel like you're prepared for any call that comes your way.

Commitment to Volunteering
In return for receiving 75 hours of training, all volunteers commit to volunteering for one year (at least 200 hours) with 2-1-1 Big Bend. Once you have successfully completed training and are approved to answer the hotlines by yourself, you may begin to earn volunteer hours that count towards the one-year, 200-hour commitment. You will be expected to complete three 3-hour shifts and one overnight shift each month while you are working on your volunteer hours commitment.

Commitment to Yourself and to Your Callers
Training to answer a hotline can be very intense and demanding. The 2-1-1 Big Bend staff, both paid and volunteer, are here to support you. We want to provide whatever help you need in order to take care of yourself and to be effective for your callers.

We know that all of these commitments can seem intimidating, but we wouldn't ask them of you if they weren't extremely important. Also, remember that volunteering comes with many rewards as well.

If you have more questions, please contact our Coordinator of Volunteers at (850) 617-6309 or complete our online volunteer information request form. We are looking forward to hearing from you!