Our Values

The philosophy of Tel-Aide is based on respect, empathy, and authenticity towards those who call. We adhere to the ideas of the school of humanist psychology, whereby the person best qualified to find a solution to a problem is the person with the problem. Out goal is to guarantee that those who use our services can express themselves with complete trust, no matter who is listening at the other of the line.

Training Volunteers
Tel-Aide assigns great importance to recruiting and training new volunteers. Our members dedicate a large part of their energy to this task. This means that callers speak to listeners who have been rigorously trained in active listening. Their basic training is completed by supervised-listening sessions, and by further continuing-education sessions.

Anonymity
Tel-Aide does not use Caller ID devices, and does not keep individual files on its clients. Callers can confide in a listener without fear that their identities will be known, or looked for, or saved in any way; and this is true even if callers are willing to have their identities known.

However, in conformity with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the laws of Quebec, and our policy of suicide prevention, in no case can listeners support suicidal gestures. In such cases, listeners are obliged to intervene. They must call for help if they judge the life or safety of a caller, or of another person, to be in danger, and they must do so right away, or within hours of receiving a call.

Respect
No matter what their mental health status, what they say, or their attitude, when callers use the Tel-Aide service they can expect to be treated with respect, openness, and tolerance. If a listener must end a call, because it has strayed outside the Tel-Aide context, or for personal reasons, he or she does so politely.

Active but Non-directive Listening
We believe that persons have all the resources they need to judge their own situation, find their own solutions, and solve their own problems in the best possible way. Any advice, opinion, or solutions a listener might suggest would be superfluous, probably useless, and possibly dangerous.