Risk #5

Day 5:  Do a HIPS Hotline shift.

So my friend Whitney and I volunteer for this amazing organization called HIPS.  The acronym stands for Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive.  *record scratch*  Yes, we volunteer with an organization that helps prostitutes.  And *gasp* our goal is not to get them off the street.  HIPS follows a harm reduction model and works with their clients by meeting them where they are.  Of course in a perfect world, no one would have to work as a prostitute, but that's not reality.  The reality is that there are cis and trans gendered women out on the street every night trying to make money to pay rent, support their kids, or just get their next fix.  And my job is not to judge them.  My job is to help them.  Without getting further into my feelings about the work that HIPS does, I acknowledged that people don't agree with it.  And that's fine.  If that's you though, you might want to skip this post and another that will come toward the end of the month when I do a HIPS van shift.  Consider that your warning.

So HIPS does in person outreach, but they also run a hotline.  I am trained in both components of outreach, but until now, I hadn't actually done a shift.  I went through 4 days of intensive training, have packets upon packets of info, and a friend who has done a shift on the van so I could pick her brain.  But I've always been too scared to do a shift of any kind. Luckily this month is about overcoming fears and taking risks, so when the July hotline schedule came to my inbox, I decided to sign up.

My shift started at 10.  After dialing in, I carried my phone around with me like a baby.  I needed it to be in my sight at all time and I had the ringer on the loudest setting.  I had planed to hang around my house for the majority of the day, for fear I'd have to answer some awkward sex related question while I was in line at Target.  11:00 came, then 11:20, still no calls.  I was a littler nervous that I hadn't dialed in correctly and that the calls weren't forwarding to my phone.  I thought about calling the hotline on my other phone just to see, but then I got my first phone call.  I was so nervous, I stumbled over my intro!  It was a simple call, a question about HIV transmission.  I'm sure the caller could hear me flipping through my packet as I double checked to make sure I gave him all the right information.  And after that first call, I got a little less nervous.  I answered a few question and set up some syringe exchanges, then before I knew it, it was 5:00 and my shift was over.  I have no idea why I've been so nervous to do a hotline shift.  After it was over, I felt good.  I felt like I'd actually helped some people.  And I definitely felt like when the August shift schedule comes through my inbox, I'll be signing up again.