Please help Suicide hotline non profit

16 points by ammarkalim 15 years ago | 10 comments

Hi, I belong to a developing nation, where we have almost no suicide hotlines. So i am thinking of starting a suicide hotline but I am facing some technical difficulties. I don't have a large budget to purchase Cisco unified communication system so i looking at something cheaper. This is what i am looking for :

1) People call to one unified number, a standard line number and it gets routed. 2) The calls should be routed to mobile numbers instead of landline numbers. This is a non profit venture which means that i can't employ people.So i want the calls get routed to mobile number of volunteers who are available at that time, despite their location.

I have figured out asterisk but i don't know if it is best solution for this. If it is, i don't know my way around that. So guys please advice me on this issue, you might end up saving someones life.

mryan 15 years ago |

I would recommend Asterisk. You can set up "hunt groups" so that Asterisk will try to route the call to one of your volunteers. However, you would need multiple phone lines, otherwise your callers will be greeted with a "busy" tone.

In the UK, there is a company called AQL which will provide you with multiple distinct telephone numbers, all of which can be routed over the internet (via AIX) to your Asterisk box. This solves the "busy" problem, but it does involve some cost. Perhaps there is a similar telecoms company in Pakistan?

If not, you will need to rent multiple phone lines, all of which will have to be physically connected to the Asterisk box. You will need two lines for each concurrent call you plan to handle - one for the incoming call, and one for the outgoing call to the volunteer's mobile.

Keep in mind you will also need to pay for the calls to your volunteers' mobile phones - if they have suitable internet connections then a SIP softphone (or Skype) would remove the cost of outgoing mobile calls.

In fact, doing this via Skype could be quite effective - your Asterisk server would be aware of all of the volunteers' Skype accounts, and could route the call to whoever is online at the time someone calls. If no-one is online, it could route the call to someone's mobile (to ensure someone always answers a call).

AsteriskNOW has a graphical interface which will let you set up all of these features without needing to maually write dial plans: http://www.asterisk.org/asterisknow/

My email is in my profile if you have any follow-up questions, or would like more detail. Good luck!

I also second the other advice on: Affiliating yourself with an institution, ensuring all volunteers are suitably trained, and investigating any possible grants/funding from NGOs.

ammarkalim 15 years ago | |

hey thank you so much for your advice. Actually i am thinking of moving away from landline to mobile routing, mainly because of cost and complications. I am planning to implement Asterisk,in my house, which i am planning to use as an office for volunteers. This Skype thing is really neat btw. AsteriskNow looks really what i need, but i will shoot you an email if i find my self a little lost while dealing with Asterisk. :)

dsplittgerber 15 years ago |

I would recommend you affiliate yourself with some kind of institution - like a University, a hospital or something like that. They may be able to provide you with an unused room or a landline. I don't know about perceptions in Pakistan, but you may have to consider keeping the support of that institution secret, that is having a different telephone number prefix than the institution that supports you.

It's very difficult to get funding for starting Suicide hotlines. Also, it's very difficult to get adaquate training for the people manning the lines, which is _far more important_ than anything else. You do not want to get into a situation where you have a serious case and your telephone agent is not prepared. No, 'just' being a medical doctor or psych student does not prepare you for that. Do not rely on mobile phones, the connection may get dropped anytime.

ammarkalim 15 years ago | |

Thank you so much for your adice...this is actually a really interesting perspective. I am thinking myself of affiliating my self with a university so that they can help me in providing training to volunteers. Yeah, i am thinking of eliminating mobiles phones from the whole scenario and focus completely on an internal PBX system. As for the funding, i hope that i can bank roll it myself...i am not so sure right now, but considering the increasing number of difficulties faced Pakistanis i think i need to start this as soon as possible.

rdl 15 years ago |

I would probably use asterisk and cellular fso/fsx interfaces (Ethernet sip gateways with gsm air interfaces on the otter side) to keep mobile calling costs down. In most countries calking mobile to mobile is cheaper than land to mobile. Optionally one per gsm network, it all depends on call volume.

holychiz 15 years ago |

uhh, wouldn't you also want a number of simultaneous incoming calls? I mean if you get your service up and running, get everybody memorize your phone number and then incoming calls are greeted w/ busy signals. That wouldn't be good for suicidal situations, right ? :)

Google Voice is good for a single call but I don't know if it has call distribution. What you need sounds like a PBX w/ call hunt-group feature.

I think there are grants and financial aids from Western non-profits and NGOs available for things like what you're proposing. perhaps you can post request for helps in those forums also.

jason_slack 15 years ago |

Google Voice? I use it for similar criteria...

jdp23 15 years ago | |

that's what leapt to mind for me also. is it available in this country?

ammarkalim 15 years ago | | |

no its not available in my country, i am from Pakistan. Other wise Google Voice would have been ideal.