2NDFLOOR is a place to reach out for help

A preteen girl feels like her friends do not want her around anymore

When a teenager discovers that her friend is being abused by her mother, she wants to know how she can help.

Suicidal thoughts lead one caller to stand across the street from a hospital emergency room, without the courage to go inside.

Every day, young people throughout New Jersey are facing difficult, sometimes lifethreatening situations like the above real-life scenarios. They feel alienated from their friends or family, trapped in self-destructive behavior, or they need vital information about physical or mental health, dating, sexuality, peer pressure and substance abuse, to name only some of the issues on their minds.

Without intervention, some of these young people may hurt or even kill themselves. These are New Jersey's children - our children - reaching out for help.

To help prevent children's problems from becoming overwhelming, 180 Turning Lives Around Inc., a Monmouth County nonprofit dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault, took its 2NDFLOOR Youth Helpline statewide.

2NDFLOOR is now available to over one million New Jersey children between the ages of 10 and 24, any time of the day or night. Their calls are answered by adults trained to be nonjudgmental and supportive while making sure each caller gets the help she or he needs.

2NDFLOOR is staffed around the clock with professional counselors who supervise volunteers and answer calls.

Sometimes, success has been set into motion by the end of the phone call, as in these real-life examples:

• The girl who felt her friends did not want her around anymore explored her feelings with a trained volunteer, who helped her brainstorm ways to discuss these feelings with her friends.

• The caller worried about a friend who was being abused by her mother was helped to identify trusted adults who could intervene.

• The suicidal young woman who was afraid to enter a hospital emergency room was supported by her phone counselor to reach out for help.

These are only a handful of the successful outcomes achieved by 2NDFLOOR staff and volunteers, who have fielded more than 30,000 calls since September.

As 2NDFLOOR reaches more children throughout New Jersey, the need for additional caring, committed volunteers at our Hazlet call center also increases. If you or someone you know would like to take an active role in helping the community's children and can commit to a 40-hour training program and as little as eight hours a month, please consider becoming a 2NDFLOOR volunteer.

For more information, call our volunteer coordinator at 732-264-4360, ext. 2264 or visit www.2ndfloor.org.
Anna Diaz-White
Executive Director
Turning Lives Around
Hazlet