Three years ago, the La Rochelle association SOS Amitié opened a branch in Niort. Launched with four people, it now has seventeen listeners… who need support. Loneliness, illness, violence, physical, psychological or emotional distress… there is no shortage of pain that seeks to be heard. “Nationally, SOS Amitié receives more than three million calls each year, but our resources only allow us to handle 750,000.” François Laurent is an administrator of SOS Amitié La Rochelle and, with Corinne Boucher, the director of the Niort branch, they are therefore launching a call for volunteers. “The first six months, we received 950 calls; in 2023, we will exceed 3,000 calls; this year, we will be around 4,500. »
“We need psychologists, listeners, but also financial partners”
The ambition of SOS Amitié Niort is to handle 10,000 calls per year. “This is why we need psychologists, listeners but also financial partners”list François Laurent who calculated that the antenna needs €10,000 to €15,000 per year to cover its costs and charges.
Selection at the entrance
Although SOS Amitié calls on all people of good will to listen, not all candidates will be accepted. “We don’t take just anyone”Corinne Boucher emphasizes, recalling the selection process at the entrance: when the applicant passes the first interview with two members of the association, he then meets a psychologist, his application is finally studied by a group of the association. If he is accepted, he follows a training course of around sixty hours spread over six months.
“We do what we call the “person-centered approach.”explains Corinne Boucher. This is not natural listening, it is a learned practice. At no time is the person told what to do. Our role is to listen to him, without value judgment, without preconceptions. » « Gthanks to this sincere, attentive, benevolent listening, completes François Laurent, We help people find a solution or the beginning of their solution.”
About twenty hours and one night
Desire to be useful, empathy, humility, ability to question oneself, appetite for teamwork are some of the qualities expected of listeners from whom the association requests around twenty hours and one night (11 p.m. to 6 p.m. h) presence per month (to listen on the phone but also to exchange via chat or email). “And they are never left to their own devices, insists François Laurent. The stories we collect are sometimes very heavy, difficult to hear, which is why it is important that each listener has the opportunity to express their feelings: in addition to the fact that they can talk to each other, they must participate each month in a moment of support supervised by a psychologist. It is mandatory and essential.
A public information (and recruitment) meeting will take place at the start of the school year at the Maison des associations in Niort. But applicants who are interested in listening can make themselves known to SOS Amitié without delay by going to its national website, sos-amitie.com, under the heading “Becoming a listener”.
