Contact of Southeast Tennessee will begin its winter volunteer training schedule on Saturday with "Living With Mental Illness" from 10 a.m. to noon at the Contact office, 6221 Vance Road.
Monique Holeyfield, clinical services coordinator at Johnson Mental Health Center, will provide information on mental health conditions, warning signs and treatment. The class will include a panel of members from the National Alliance on Mental Illness to field questions.
"An Introduction to Contact" will be held Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. Contact staff will explain who the agency serves, its policy and procedures, how to listen and when to offer advice.
"Suicide Prevention" will be held on Saturday, March 16, at 10 a.m. and will be led by Sandee Jenkins, a certified instructor in QPR Suicide Prevention. QPR is a technique used by crisis hotlines to persuade callers considering suicide to seek treatment.
Contact is a crisis intervention hotline staffed by volunteers. In 2012, it received 7,519 anonymous calls needing a friendly voice, information, referral and support.
Classes provide topical information for Contact workers, but can be helpful to anyone in the community.
For more information or to register, call 266-8228.