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1-888-315-NISA
Assalaamualaikum,
As many of you know, alhamdulilah last week was the launch of the Muslim Women’s Helpline. With Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala’s help and guidance, we’ve come so far and will continue to do more to make this a successful service, insha’Allah.
We wanted to give you all a brief overview of our week –
Did we get any calls? How many?
The funny thing is, we kept reminding the girls that they may not get any calls but a day did not go by without them receiving at least two calls and more.
From Monday to Thursday, we excluded Friday because it was Eid, we received 13 calls during our operating hours that were answered. When we checked the call records, we would see many other calls people would make during non-operating hours as well.
Some of these calls were short as ten minutes: some sisters just needed resources/ referrals, some calls were as long as an hour long: sisters that needed to speak to the Helpline Counselors about their situations, recalling events happening in their lives.
In the 8 hours of operating, the total talk time was 5 hours!
What was the response from the Helpline Counselors?
In many of the Helpline Training sessions, the professional trainers reminded the girls about being sincere in their want to help, and that is what we saw from them masha’Allah. They were very eager to take the role of that listening ear, and than support.
Of course, after many of the heavier calls, we had debriefing sessions with them as well. A few days ago, we did a debriefing session with one of our Helpline Counselors who handled a call about abuse, and she told us that it really hurt her that she couldn’t do more for the sister, except to provide her with the support she needed.
Something that the girls were reminded of over and over was their role: it is to provide support (and referrals) and not to take matters into thier own hands. The plan of action comes from the callers themselves. It’s hard when a sister speaks about the emotional and physical abuse/ trauma she is going through and is not ready to take the steps to leave this relationship, the counselors are there to hear them and remind them of patience and perseverance, but until the callers themselves are able and ready to leave, they cannot lead them towards that direction.
However, no matter how grim the calls may start of, at the end of it, the girls feel happy to just be there for the callers, providing the support, resources and the (imaginary) shoulder to lean on.
What was the response from the public?
We’ve been getting an amazing response from the people who’ve heard about the Helpline. Masha’Allah, our facebook page has been buzzing with positive messages, and through our website, we’ve also been getting lots of people emailing us (from around the world) and telling us to continue the good work we’re doing alhamdulilah.
We’ve also gotten a positive response from the sisters that called the Helpline. When the Helpline volunteers heard that jazakillah khairan or sincere thank you at the other end of the line, it really did make their day. It’s a wonderful feeling to benefit and touch the life of another.
What’s next?
It’s important to spread the word of the Helpline. Alhamdulilah many sisters know of it, but there are many others that don’t. We want to reach EVERY single sister in North America, and want them to know that the Women’s Helpline is there for them! If there is no one to listen, if tests seem great, if someone just needs to talk out something, we’re here for them. This is a peer to peer support system that is totally anonymous and confidential. They should not hesitate to call our line any time J
Please remember us in your prayers, and help us to grow this wonderful service.
Insha’Allah we hope to provide you with many more updates in the future.
JazaakumAllahu khairan.
Sabah Kazmi
WRC Program Manager
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