Struggling with a dilemma, such as whether to dob in that next-door neighbour dumping rubbish on the footpath or call out that person wearing their mask below their nose?
Difficult decisions present themselves almost daily, but you don’t have to make that decision alone.
The Not For Profit Ethics Centre operates a free hotline, known as Ethi-call.
The volunteer counsellors will not tell you what to do. They do not give advice, merely ask questions that 92 per cent of callers said assisted them to find a better way to think about an issue, and made 90 per cent feel better.
“It is so empowering,” Ethics Centre Director Michelle Bloom told the Brisbane Times. “I really love our absolute assumption and belief that the best answer and advice sits in the person themselves.”
COVID-19, which only emerged in December 2019, has resulted in a 600 per cent increase in the number of hour-long consultations at Ethi-call, from about 20 a month to 120 in August, when the call line relaunched with 11 extra counsellors to handle the additional demand.
COVID-19 now accounts for more than a third of calls to the hotline, the only independent helpline of its kind in the world.
The COVID-19 subjects include whether to report a neighbour doing the wrong thing, and increases in hearing domestic violence during the lockdown. Then there’s questions about wills, whistleblowing, conflicts of interest and parenting.
Ethi-call’s counsellors are trained to ask about the caller’s values, duties and responsibilities, challenge their assumptions and seek to define what’s non-negotiable. They try to help the solution become apparent to the caller.
“Most people fail our training because they want to give advice,” said Ms Bloom. “It is asking questions without me saying ‘this is what you should do’.”
The majority of people who ring the hotline feel they have come to a decision by the end of the call, or are confident they have the tools to overcome their decision paralysis, Ms Bloom said.
With the end of lockdown restrictions in sight – but the need to protect the community remaining in place – we imagine those curly questions will keep on coming.
