Boys Town National Hotline Nationally Recognized

The Boys Town National Hotline was nationally recognized recently when it was granted a renewal of a five-year accreditation from the American Association of Suicidology (AAS). The certification is a powerful reaffirmation of the Hotline's standing as a positive tool to save children and heal families.

AAS certification examiner Susan Eastgard visited Boys Town in November 2011. She was very impressed with the Hotline staff and recommended the five-year re-certification with high praise.
"It was truly an honor to visit the Boys Town Hotline," Eastgard said. There is no doubt that this center deserves to be re-accredited by the AAS. It meets - but mostly exceeds - standards in each area."

Ginny Gohr, Boys Town National Hotline Director, said hearing that the Hotline had passed the accreditation process again, without major improvement areas, felt wonderful.
"The AAS examiner was a director of another crisis center, so to have someone come in that understands our business and validate that we have very sound crisis intervention practices and that we provide a valuable and effective service to our clients was extremely meaningful to the entire staff," Gohr said. "It is always good to get an outside view and have an opportunity to learn from others in your type of business."

The re-accreditation required the Hotline to send its various materials addressing policies and procedures, samples of forms and computer screen shots of work, and various reports for review. The review covered areas such as administration, training procedures, service delivery, crisis intervention, ethical issues, community integration and program evaluation. The AAS site visit included interviews by Eastgard with various Hotline executives, staff members and crisis counselors.

Last audited and accredited by the AAS in 2006, Gohr said one of the major ways the Hotline has improved since then is through its adaptation and expansion online via email, online chat and websites such as Parenting.org and YourLifeYourVoice.org for parents and teens, respectively. These new venues required the Hotline to establish new standards and procedures.
"It has been a challenging learning curve, but we are now reaching more youth than we have in several years," Gohr said. "Teens are providing positive feedback that we are making a difference in their lives. We need to continue monitoring these new ways of helping people for their effectiveness."

The report encouraged the Hotline to expand its services and share its success stories to outside organizations. Eastgard also recommended that the hotline conduct four, week-long caller satisfaction surveys each year to better evaluate which services the Hotline should focus on most. Overall, the AAS report passed the Hotline with flying colors.
Kristine Bosiljevac, Boys Town National Hotline Manager, was thrilled to hear the report's news and share the success with the staff.

"It is very complimentary of the Hotline and the work that we are doing, with minimal recommendations," Bosiljevac said. "This was truly a team effort, and the end result was an overwhelming success."

Founded in 1968, the ASA promotes research and public awareness for suicide prevention and establishes national standards for organizations and individuals working to combat self-destructive behavior, help people in crisis and save the lives of those who are suicidal. The Boys Town National Hotline has been involved in the accreditation process for the past 15 years.