Fun Fact:

For the past three years I’ve attended a national role playing game convention (GenCon), running games and facilitating. Last year I presented a game that I wrote for the first time!

How did you first become involved with NRS?

After a friend went through a mental health crisis, helping him through it felt like something I could, and should, do more of. I decided to join NRS to gain crisis counseling skills and put them to work.

What keeps you coming back?

The opportunity to make such a significant impact in the lives of people in crisis. Never gets old!

What have you learned from your experiences here?

I didn’t anticipate how constrained I would be in my ability to place callers into services. Crisis lines like ours need and deserve resources, but we also urgently need more actual shelters and housing solutions.

What is a story from your experience that stuck with you?

I am consistently amazed at how emotionally intelligent so many of our young callers are. I had a call with a high school student who talked bluntly about her past trauma, present emotions, and need for mental health treatment (in those terms). I was so happy to help her find the counseling services that she knew that she needed.

Open Mic Moment (this is your chance to say to all volunteers whatever you would like):

Everyone here is awesome. That’s all!