Telephone counselling service Lifeline Mid Coast cleaned up at the In the Spotlight 2019 Volunteer Awards on May 22.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Telephone Crisis Support Team won Large Team category and their Suicide Prevention Support Team won the Small Team category.
Suicide Prevention Manager Lifeline Mid Coast Kelly Sadey said it was a "great honour" to receive the award.
"It is recognising people who are giving up their time to save Australian lives," Ms Sadey said.
Ms Sadey's team runs bereavement and suicide prevention groups.
"They sit, listen and help support people move forward by hearing people's pain and loneliness," Ms Sadey said.
Their aim is to teach people "resilience and hope".
Trainer and Manager of the Crisis Support Team Di Bannister said the award was "amazing recognition for the volunteers that work in our teams and the team that supports those volunteers".
Volunteers from the Crisis Support Team counsel people from around Australia over the phone.
"A lot of the calls are about relationship issues, broken homes,"Ms Bannister said.
"But we hear a lot of loneliness, there is a worldwide epidemic of loneliness.
"There is research that tells us that human beings don't cope well with loneliness because our brains are geared for tribal living.
"Loneliness is part of the human experience but what I am talking about is chronic loneliness.
"We don't have the community we once had."
Volunteer of the year went to Dianne Gander for her work with Hastings Macleay Community Transport.
Ms Gander said it was "nice" to be acknowledged but it is not why she volunteered her time.
"I feel the more you give in life the more you get out of it," she said.
Spotlight 2019 Volunteer Awards were run by Volunteer HQ which provides information, referral and training to interested volunteers in the Hastings.
