

Please help Suicide hotline non profit - ammarkalim

Hi,
I belong to a developing nation, where we have almost no suicide hotlines. So i am thinking of starting a suicide hotline but I am facing some technical difficulties. I don't have a large budget to purchase Cisco unified communication system so i looking at something cheaper. This is what i am looking for :<p>1) People call to one unified number, a standard line number and it gets routed.
2) The calls should be routed to mobile numbers instead of landline numbers. This is a non profit venture which means that i can't employ people.So i want the calls get routed to mobile number of volunteers who are available at that time, despite their location.<p>I have figured out asterisk but i don't know if it is best solution for this. If it is, i don't know my way around that. So guys please advice me on this issue, you might end up saving someones life.
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mryan
I would recommend Asterisk. You can set up "hunt groups" so that Asterisk will
try to route the call to one of your volunteers. However, you would need
multiple phone lines, otherwise your callers will be greeted with a "busy"
tone.

In the UK, there is a company called AQL which will provide you with multiple
distinct telephone numbers, all of which can be routed over the internet (via
AIX) to your Asterisk box. This solves the "busy" problem, but it does involve
some cost. Perhaps there is a similar telecoms company in Pakistan?

If not, you will need to rent multiple phone lines, all of which will have to
be physically connected to the Asterisk box. You will need two lines for each
concurrent call you plan to handle - one for the incoming call, and one for
the outgoing call to the volunteer's mobile.

Keep in mind you will also need to pay for the calls _to_ your volunteers'
mobile phones - if they have suitable internet connections then a SIP
softphone (or Skype) would remove the cost of outgoing mobile calls.

In fact, doing this via Skype could be quite effective - your Asterisk server
would be aware of all of the volunteers' Skype accounts, and could route the
call to whoever is online at the time someone calls. If no-one is online, it
could route the call to someone's mobile (to ensure _someone_ always answers a
call).

AsteriskNOW has a graphical interface which will let you set up all of these
features without needing to maually write dial plans:
<http://www.asterisk.org/asterisknow/>

My email is in my profile if you have any follow-up questions, or would like
more detail. Good luck!

I also second the other advice on: Affiliating yourself with an institution,
ensuring all volunteers are suitably trained, and investigating any possible
grants/funding from NGOs.

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ammarkalim
hey thank you so much for your advice. Actually i am thinking of moving away
from landline to mobile routing, mainly because of cost and complications. I
am planning to implement Asterisk,in my house, which i am planning to use as
an office for volunteers. This Skype thing is really neat btw. AsteriskNow
looks really what i need, but i will shoot you an email if i find my self a
little lost while dealing with Asterisk. :)

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dsplittgerber
I would recommend you affiliate yourself with some kind of institution - like
a University, a hospital or something like that. They may be able to provide
you with an unused room or a landline. I don't know about perceptions in
Pakistan, but you may have to consider keeping the support of that institution
secret, that is having a different telephone number prefix than the
institution that supports you.

It's very difficult to get funding for starting Suicide hotlines. Also, it's
very difficult to get adaquate training for the people manning the lines,
which is _far more important_ than anything else. You do not want to get into
a situation where you have a serious case and your telephone agent is not
prepared. No, 'just' being a medical doctor or psych student does not prepare
you for that. Do not rely on mobile phones, the connection may get dropped
anytime.

~~~
ammarkalim
Thank you so much for your adice...this is actually a really interesting
perspective. I am thinking myself of affiliating my self with a university so
that they can help me in providing training to volunteers. Yeah, i am thinking
of eliminating mobiles phones from the whole scenario and focus completely on
an internal PBX system. As for the funding, i hope that i can bank roll it
myself...i am not so sure right now, but considering the increasing number of
difficulties faced Pakistanis i think i need to start this as soon as
possible.

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rdl
I would probably use asterisk and cellular fso/fsx interfaces (Ethernet sip
gateways with gsm air interfaces on the otter side) to keep mobile calling
costs down. In most countries calking mobile to mobile is cheaper than land to
mobile. Optionally one per gsm network, it all depends on call volume.

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holychiz
uhh, wouldn't you also want a number of simultaneous incoming calls? I mean if
you get your service up and running, get everybody memorize your phone number
and then incoming calls are greeted w/ busy signals. That wouldn't be good for
suicidal situations, right ? :)

Google Voice is good for a single call but I don't know if it has call
distribution. What you need sounds like a PBX w/ call hunt-group feature.

I think there are grants and financial aids from Western non-profits and NGOs
available for things like what you're proposing. perhaps you can post request
for helps in those forums also.

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jason_slack
Google Voice? I use it for similar criteria...

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jdp23
that's what leapt to mind for me also. is it available in this country?

~~~
ammarkalim
no its not available in my country, i am from Pakistan. Other wise Google
Voice would have been ideal.

~~~
jdp23
hmm ... not sure about the pricing, but could Twilio potentially help?

