A helpline, or switchboard, is a
telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
service which offers help to those who call. Many helpline services now offer more than telephone support - offering access to information, advice or customer service via telephone, email, web or SMS.
The word ''
hotline
A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automat ...
'' is also sometimes used to refer to a helpline.
A helpline can provide emotional support to a person in distress in its minimalistic form. It may help the individual.
Services include:
*
user assistance
User assistance is a general term for guided assistance to a user of a software product. The phrase incorporates all forms of help available to a user. Assistance can also automatically perform procedures or step users through the procedure, depen ...
, for example computer software support
*
telephone counseling Telephone counseling refers to any type of psychological service performed over the telephone. Telephone counseling ranges from individual, couple or group psychotherapy with a professional therapist to psychological first aid provided by para-prof ...
,
medical hotlines
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...
,
insolvency hotlines
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet inso ...
,
crisis hotline
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1951 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the E ...
s and many other types of hotlines.
See also
*
Telephone counseling Telephone counseling refers to any type of psychological service performed over the telephone. Telephone counseling ranges from individual, couple or group psychotherapy with a professional therapist to psychological first aid provided by para-prof ...
*
Hotline
A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automat ...
*
Single Non-Emergency Number
A harmonised service of social value is a type of freephone service available in the European Union and in some non-EU countries (including the countries in the European Economic Area and United Kingdom), which answers a specific social need, in ...
*
Emergency telephone number
Most public switched telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number (sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or the emergency services number) that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assista ...
References
External links
Helpline Database{{Wiktionary
Information by telephone
Counseling