Sunday Coffee and Chat -- 23rd November 2025

Good afternoon, lovely @heartathome,

How are you?

Aw bless, that is so, so sweet. 🥹

Oh no! I must have missed this. What caused the electricity outage?

Do you eat and connect after church too?

Thank you! hahaha sorry, I have a second job in hospitality, but I am studying counselling.

How are you feeling about your upcoming appointments/not being able to access osteoperosis treatment? @Shaz51

And what have you and hubby been up to today? 💛

How are you feeling about your upcoming appointments--- feeling and hoping that everything is stable with the Kidney and Diabetes @AuntGlow

with Genetic -- unsure if it is worth it as I am now 61 and what can they do about it now , treatment wise ?

not being able to access osteoperosis treatment? --- thinking is the doctor waiting for me to break a bone and also would treatment make any difference to the kidney disease ( make it worse ??)

No appointment with the heart specialist yet

I am hoping everything is stable for you too. @Shaz51 🫶

Hmmm, what could you lose/gain from exploring with genetic further?

And I totally understand that train of thought! Would you want to bring it up as an option again?

Hi @AuntGlow

I’m now responding to your post 3 days later lol..

Yes I found the debriefing helpful. However, even during the debrief all the supervisors were telling me things that are obviously part of the company’s protocol since we all have to follow it. So an obvious example in this scenario would be that in crisis support services, it is strongly recommended and preferred that we continue to keep the convo with the help seeker going even if the help seeker says something that makes us comfortable (like in my case, the help seeker was being very direct and honest about the ‘scripts’ I was using and the things that he thinks were doing at our company…I didn’t like that and of course it p!ssed me off), but other companies on the other hand (generally in customer service) the employees have the rights to terminate chats with customers if customers were to do a similar thing I reckon…that’s what I’ve experienced with some or most employees that do this as a customer myself in the past..

about my concerns, i mention about it to other users on here too so I’ll just copy and paste it below: 👇

since those weekend shifts, I've been having a bit of doubts as to how I'm gonna continue to do the role and how I'm that type of person that overthinks things and is always looking for 'perfection' just to make consumers/clients/help-seekers happy when they speak to me because I'm scared that if I say something without overthinking that might lead to some of them replying a bit rudely or something, that's what I always worry about 😕

but at the same time I also learnt that trying to aim for ‘perfect’ responses can sometimes lead to help seekers not reacting to it pretty well, just like the consumer/client/help seeker I've spoke to on Saturday (this one)

here's the post where I've shared a bit about what happened

click here

Good afternoon @Blackcloud,

That's okay, I have been delayed too! It's more than fine. 🫶

I understand where you are coming from and I have had previous experiences working in similar spaces too - I am happy to share some things that helped me work through this, if you'd like?

I completely get why it's hard to receive that kind of energy and feedback - especially when you are working so hard to be caring and supportive...

How is it all sitting with you now? Have you had a shift since this happened? 💖

@AuntGlow yes please, can you share those things with me?

no I haven't gone back to being on shift since that happened. it's been 2 weeks.

---

@Blackcloud wrote:

@AuntGlow yes please, can you share those things with me?

no I haven't gone back to being on shift since that happened. it's been 2 weeks.

---

Of course! So, I think coming back to your foundations, your structure, and your training is actually really helpful! For example, setting kind boundaries with the participant, such as, "I completely hear your frustration, and I understand that receiving a script can feel somewhat impersonal, but it's helpful to get all the 'logistics' out of the way so that I can have more time to be present with what's happening for you." Validating their frustration by letting them know you understand how they are feeling, and that you're there to help is also a good way to meet the person where they are at. Of course, if they become abusive and don't respect your boundaries, you can absolutely escalate and discuss the next best/safest steps with your supervisor. @Blackcloud 🫶

@AuntGlow yeah

anyways, yesterday got a notice from the supervisor of the crisis support organisation I’m volunteering at of his concerns about me continuing to be on service all because the way I handled an interaction with a help seeker that was being rude to me over 2 weeks ago doesn’t fall into practice on what we’re meant to do at that organisation.

He said this:

”Unfortunately that approach just doesn't suit practice - and again I understand doing what you need to do to protect yourself - considering the on-service concerns and everything else we've talked about, I just don't feel it's best we continue with this, [my name].

And we've now gone back and forth on [peer support program name] multiple times so I'm not even sure if you want to do that - it's becoming a bit too messy and I'm sure it's quite draining for you as well.”

Honestly, I'm not necessarily upset about the thoughts of possibly discontinuing my time volunteering at this service because knowing myself personally, I don't think I was ever made to be able to do and pursue any employment/work or volunteer of any kind, especially in the long-term. Even my own father who I don't have a good relationship with is the same..he never wanted to pursue any sort of employment/work or volunteer of any sort and has been on the DSP (like I am) himself for...who knows how long.

I wish my mum would just let me be and don't have any wishes or hopes for me to be able to get a job or something...

I'm sorry to hear that things didn't eventuate exactly how you hoped here @Blackcloud. I am really proud of you for trying though! And it sounds like you have learned more about yourself in the process, which is a win in itself. There will be something out there that feels right for you. You're on your way with your peer studies. 💛