Lifeline South Coast is hoping to add more photos in coming months with the service now calling for volunteers to join their committed team. 

As the Mercury reported earlier this week, calls to Lifeline’s crisis support hotline have spiked by 15 per cent in the past 12 months.

Last financial year South Coast volunteers took 19,785 calls, up on the previous year’s 17,139.

Lifeline South Coast executive director Grahame Gould said the service was in the process of expanding to a new open-plan model with greater support for counsellors. 

‘‘The plan is to have six seats in an open configuration with a shift supporter in sight of volunteers so that when they get a difficult call or a call that needs some close attention they can just put their hand up and get it straight away,’’ he said. 

‘‘What’s driven that is that our calls are more complicated now, people are experiencing more complicated situations where there are a number of factors going on and we need to respond to that.’’

Lifeline is looking for reliable volunteers who are prepared to stay on for at least two years and dedicate time to the service each week.

Embracing the catchcry that suicide prevention is everybody’s business, BlueScope general manager of manufacturing John Nowlan has thrown his support behind Lifeline’s recruitment and training campaign.

‘‘It’s a valuable service, it’s something that’s needed in the community,’’ he said.

The upcoming telephone crisis support training course is sponsored by the BlueScope WIN Community Partners Program.

Visit www.lifelinesouthcoast.org.au for more information.