Would you like to join a unique and increasingly expanding project in alQaws?

Would you like to support people seeking a listening ear and information related to sexual/gender identity and sexual orientation?

Do you want to develop your listening and peer-support skills?

Would you like to join a committed team that believes in the importance of volunteering and providing support, as well as contributing to our hotline’s continuous development?

This is your chance!

Every year, we invite new volunteers to join alQaws’ Listening and Information Hotline (AlKhat). We will get you started with a comprehensive training course on the basics of providing support and listening, with a focus on topics related to sexual/gender identity and sexual orientation.

AlKhat has been operating since 2010, fueled by the energy of volunteers and grounded in the concept of “peer-support”. We aim to provide a space (via phone and chat every Sunday and Wednesday 17:00-21:00) for people to reach out, talk about their experiences, express their feelings and thoughts about their environment, ask questions about sexual/gender identity and sexual orientation, and seek information on how to access more professional help if needed.

AlKhat provides a vital service, with an increasing number of calls and chats year after year. We aim to develop this space in a way that is relevant to our societal context and provides added value that is not available in other informal social/support spaces. AlKhat volunteers are trained to listen and engage with a variety of topics, including:

• Confusion and questions about sexual orientation, gender identity, and any feelings brought up by these questions.

• Challenges with familial, social, romantic and sexual relations.

• The continuous violent incidents we have been experiencing and witnessing more and more often recently.

You can join our dedicated team if you: 

• Are a person of queer experience (open to folks living diverse gender and sexual experiences / orientations).

• Are 23 years of age or older.

• Have the capacity to listen and provide support / are interested in volunteering and/or activism, and you would like to develop these aspects of yourself through professional guidance and supervision.

• Have the ability to commit to volunteering with the hotline for two years, at a rate of two shifts per month (8 hours per month).

• Are committed to actively participating in 9 counselling/supervision sessions for the volunteers throughout the year (6 group meetings + 3 individual sessions).

Professional Training and Supervision

New volunteers start with a training course, where they learn and discuss the knowledge and skills needed to actively engage with callers: from tackling personal challenges, listening and conversational skills, exploring volunteer-caller dynamics, and getting to know the work of alKhat.

After successfully completing the training course, new volunteers will shadow current ones to get acquainted with the volunteer experience. Additionally, our ongoing individual and group supervision sessions serve to strengthen volunteer’s listening and conversational skills, build their knowledge around sexual and gender diversity issues, and foster a collective volunteer environment built around teamwork, among other aspects.

AlKhat is an extremely valuable project for alQaws and our communities, with expanding reach and impact, particularly in recent months -and indeed the past year- with ongoing and more frequent social discussions around events related to sexual and gender diversity in Palestine.

Volunteering with AlKhat is an opportunity to give some of your time and effort in service of others, thus requiring a high level of commitment to the project and to our communities. Yet, it can also be an extremely rewarding experience for the volunteers themselves. It provides them with a space for personal and professional development, and for honsing their listening and conversational skills, among others, that can be helpful in other professional or social spaces.

The training course starts in August 2020 and runs for 12 sessions over 12 weeks (60 training hours), and will be held in Haifa (transportation expenses will be reimbursed for participants commuting to the sessions).