CAMBRIDGE — They may be emotionally upset and calling for help, but there’s a good chance they already know the answers.

Sometimes, all it takes is a voice of a stranger who answered the phone at Telecare Cambridgeto point them in the right direction.

“We do the peeling of the onion, to get to the cause of the problem, to help them to help themselves,” said Elizabeth Pease, executive director of the all-volunteer group.

Telecare Cambridge was started in 1981. Today, there are about 20 call takers. Pease said recruitment is ongoing.

Call takers an offer a shoulder to cry on, ask gently prodding questions and listen for signs of suicidal thoughts.

Telecare isn’t the only crisis line around. The Canadian Mental Health association offers one, as do youth organizations and sex abuse crisis centres, Pease said.

“They have some very specific lines, where ours encompasses everybody. We take calls from all demographics. We lend them an ear.”

The 519-658-6805 crisis line available 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Volunteers work shifts in an office in Cambridge. They handle 78 to 180 calls a month.

A few years ago, 24-hour service was offered, but there aren’t enough volunteers to maintain it without them burning out.

“Some of our regular callers aren’t interested in finding solutions,” Pease said. “They’re just looking for someplace to vent.”

Upwards of 60 per cent of callers get help from the volunteers. The rest are referred to other support agencies for in-depth help, or emergency services are called to intervene.

Telecare is looking to reinvent itself, said Pease, who started working crisis lines in Windsor a few years ago while attending university there. Today, she lives in Guelph but can’t stay away from helping strangers on the district’s only crisis phone service.

About 15 per cent of Telecare’s annual $25,000 budget of is covered by grants from the City of Cambridge and Waterloo Region. Another 35 per cent comes from bingos. The rest comes from donations and other fundraising.

Two weeks ago, city council rejected a request for an immediate $700 to kick-start a strategic planning process.

Council balked at giving money to Telecare outside the normal funding application process for all community groups. Telecare was invited to apply and the money would likely be approved early in the new year.

Pease said the money is needed to conduct a survey now, the best time of the year to contact people and related agencies. So Telecare is appealing to past donors to help raise the $700 now. So far, there’s $300 in the bank.

When the groundwork for the strategic planning process is complete, and a budget set, then Telecare plans to apply for a Trillium grant to cover those costs.

Telecare is a member of Distress Centres of Ontario, which is looking into setting up a provincewide, around-the-clock, 1-800 distress line, Pease said. The goal is linking all local distress centres so they take calls for each other, “so that nobody has to get an answering machine.”

Volunteers are trained about “active listening” and to watch for signs of suicide.

“If someone hangs up, it’s the person’s choice. It’s their choice. They may call back.”

Pease has taken calls from suicidal people when she worked the phones in Windsor, but rarely hears the outcome.

“You just learn to be there for them for that call and to take the time to do some self-care afterwards . . . you did the best you could.”

Pease said volunteers are debriefed after upsetting “bad calls,” so they don’t carry the upset home after their four-hour shift.

“We don’t want the volunteers to be damaged by the calls they take.”

kswayze@therecord.com