Crisis Center Adds International-Student Training for Chat Program: Daily Iowan Reader, Feb. 26

Johnson County Crisis Center begins international-student training for online chat program

The Johnson County Crisis Center has begun training 12 University of Iowa international students to offer online crisis chat in Mandarin Chinese to other students, and officials there say the implementation of this service will provide students with more resources when they seek help.

This online chat, available from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, allows people to anonymously chat with Crisis Center volunteers.

“I think it is really exciting to reach out to a population that may not feel comfortable reaching out to our other services,” said Rachel Beach, the Crisis Chat coordinator for the center.

The program is set to launch in late-April to mid-May, following the orientation and training of the volunteers.

Conversations regarding chat in another language began last semester, and the threat-assessment team at the UI decided Mandarin Chinese was the language with the greatest need, and the center hopes to add languages in the future following more analysis. Possibilities include Spanish and Arabic.

The committee in charge of choosing the languages factors in the number of students in Johnson County who speak the language, along with the number of calls the center receives — factors that led to choosing Mandarin Chinese.

International students account for roughly 10 percent of the UI’s enrollment.

The Crisis Center partnered with the UI, and the latter applied for the Garret Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant. The grant gives $270,000 in federal support over a period of three years.

Read more here.

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