Connecting Trust tries to meet the existing gap of the dearth of the mental health professionals by training people from all walks of life. Ours is primarily a volunteer run organization. When volunteers join in from all walks of life, it represents a joining in from all sections of society towards the cause.

We have a diverse set of volunteers: working people, homemakers, students, retirees, people who have felt suicidal before and are in a better place now to support others, people who have recovered from a mental health condition, psychologists, mental health professionals etc. Our set of volunteers cut across socio economic classes and the gender spectrum too, in a way mirroring the diversity in our community.

All our volunteers undergo training in Mindfulness Based Active Listening (MBAL) for suicide prevention. This is an intense and experiential training that has been developed and fine-tuned over the years, in line with what is relevant in this work. It not only equips volunteers with the necessary skills and attitudes but also enables a transformative experience for the volunteers themselves. The 100+ hour training is offered in collaboration with the Just Being Center for Mindfulness and Presence. We have 2 up-coming trainings in English and Marathi in early 2025

It’s a part-time training over 100 hours and will run from February to April, 2025. The training cohort of September is already underway.

1. Training in English (Online and open to those not residing in Pune).
2. Training in Marathi (onsite in Pune for residents of Pune).

The training dates will be declared soon. Kindly fill the form below if you would be interested.

All participants are trained in staying with and exploring pain, feelings of suicide, grief, death, sexual distress and emotional distress underlying many mental health conditions. The volunteers are trained to provide non-judgmental, non-advisory and empathetic listening spaces to people in emotional distress and/or feeling suicidal, on our distress helpline, email support, peer educator programs, suicide survivor program, awareness program and student mental health project.

Continuous support is offered to the volunteers through a mentoring process with check-ins and debriefs for the first six months of volunteering. It is followed by periodic support through listening circles, buddy programs and refresher skills training and self-care workshops.

As trained volunteers we, apart from listening and supporting our beneficiaries, take back the work in our own families and communities enabling a more meaningful connection with them.

If you feel you’d like to commit your time to listening to people in emotional distress and/or facilitate sessions in schools, colleges and other spaces and support the cause of suicide prevention, do fill up the interest form below.

Click here to fill the form

Training in English

Training in Marathi/Hindi

To know more, call or Whatsapp on: 9834406033 (Co-ordinator for Volunteers)

Please read the frequently asked question (FAQ) section below for more details.