Fellowship Phone Line Connects Teens With Counselors

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Youth in Bentonville now have access to a new resource that can help them with any problems they might experience.

Fellowship of Christian Athletes of Arkansas, based in Fort Smith, has launched a hotline, 855-FCA-LINE, in Bentonville after a successful year in Fort Smith, said T. Ray Grandstaff, state director of FCA.

Young people, ages 13-29, can call the toll-free number and speak with a hope coach, someone who is trained to handle the most common issues that plague today’s youth, Grandstaffsaid. The phone line is open 24 hours a day, and the calls are confidential. The coaches also have access to other help organizations - such as thehopeline.com; the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network; and National Runaway Safeline - that can off er free resources to the callers.

“It’s kind of a youth concierge,” Grandstaff said. “They can call. A hope coachwill listen, empathize and encourage, then provide resources for moving toward health - mentally, physically and spiritually.”

“To have access to someone who cares really makes a diff erence,” he added.

Some of the issues the coaches are trained to handle include depression and anxiety, addictions and self harm.

The hotline has received about 400 calls since last October, Grandstaff said. The top issues callers needed help with was relationships, which includes boyfriend and girlfriend problems, family problems and bullying, he said.

FCA is partnering with schools in each city to get the word out about the program. Banners with the toll-free number hang in the schools.

Bentonville school district will have banners in the junior high schools and the north and south high school buildings, said Scott Passmore, athletic director of Bentonville Public Schools.

“This is something that could benefit our students,” Passmore said. “It’s a phone number for students who just need somebody to talk to.”

Passmore emphasized the administration is not promoting the program.

“I know within the FCA groups, they have been promoting the hotline and spreading the word,” Passmore said. “(FCA) is a student-led organization.”

The phone line launched in Fort Smith schools last October. It is available in parts of Oklahoma and in parts of Texas, as well.

Grandstaff said he got the idea for the hotline after hearing stories of young people, including one young man who had been abandoned at a young age by his father. Even years later, the young man struggled with disciplinary problems, Grandstaff said.

“He did not realize hewas loved and thought his abandonment was partly his fault,” he said.

“It was out of seeing the pain of some young people that we started putting together a coalition that really cares about youth,” said Grandstaff. “We believe, by creating that type of environment, we can bring about healthy communities by helping one kid at a time.”

The Bella Vista/Bentonville FCA Adult Chapter,the first group in Northwest Arkansas to donate to the cause, gave $1,000 to get the phone line running in Bentonville.

Chris Cash, president of the chapter, said the FCA Line is important because “it gives people hope.”

“It gives a venue for the caller to talk to someone licensed to help in those areas where they may not be comfortable talking to parents, friends or a school counselor,” he added.

Religion, Pages 10 on 10/12/2013