Recovery support volunteers
Sixty project volunteers, who were primarily recruited from
local university undergraduate and graduate social work and
nursing programs, were included as part of the current study.
The average volunteer age was 29 years, with approximately half
(n=29) between the ages of 17 and 22. Seventy-two percent were
female. Allowing for self-report of more than one race/ethnicity,
the volunteers described themselves as follows: 82% Caucasian;
17% Asian; 15% Hispanic; 3% Alaska Native/American Indian;
and 2% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Forty-eight percent
completed some college education; 32% had a bachelor’s degree;
8% had a master’s degree; 5% had an associate’s degree; 5%
completed high school; and 2% had not finished a high school
or equivalent education. Finally, the majority (77%) did not
report being in recovery. All volunteers agreed to participate
in background checks and in a training session on support call
procedures, ethics, and confidentiality that incorporated didactic
learning, role-plays using support call procedures, and listening
to examples of actual telephone support sessions. In addition
to documenting call information (e.g., call date, call minutes,
notes), volunteers also recorded recovery support calls using
a digital recorder. Both call documentation and session audio
files were uploaded to a secure server via a web-based program
created specifically for this project. Volunteers received weekly
supervision and feedback from project coordinators based on
reviews of randomly selected cases.