SMS pastoral care

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The SMS pastoral care from 1999 to 2018 denominational neutral and independent advisory services of mourning network Switzerland for people of all ages. It happened through text messages that were transmitted via the cell phone . It could also be called electronic short-letter pastoral care. At its time, SMS pastoral care was the only counseling service in Switzerland; the person seeking advice was anonymous, but accompanied in a 1: 1 contact by the same person for as long as desired. This duration ranged from a few days to several years.

Emergence

The first SMS pastoral care was launched on July 29, 1999 as a special service of the ecumenical and nationwide Swiss Internet pastoral care, founded on September 27, 1995 by Pastor Jakob Vetsch in cooperation with the telecommunications company diAx, later Sunrise , and by the youth pastor Jörg Weisshaupt has been expanded. It represented a modern form of pastoral care in the past and was the first interactive written and electronic offer from the telecommunications company diAx.

Like the Internet pastoral care, the SMS pastoral care in Switzerland could be used in the three national languages German , French and Italian . The short number 767 was introduced in 2009 to mark its tenth anniversary .

Guidelines

The responses reached the inquiring person free of charge. Like the respondent, she could remain anonymous . For these, was secrecy . She was part of a team made up of volunteer , trained and experienced pastors . They had attended an introductory course and regularly took part in supervision meetings for quality assurance purposes .

Basically, all topics could be brought to the SMS pastoral care by any person. The answer was given on the basis of Christian faith , but expressly left the recipient free to act independently.

requirements

The text messages were usually sent on both sides by mobile phone by SMS or also by MMS . The offer of the Swiss SMS pastoral care was once also available via the WAP and also provided meaningful verses there .

The answer reached the inquiring person within one day.

Quirks

Experience has shown that many people who are worried, plagued by grief, have problems, or live in conflict prefer to write rather than talk. That is why the SMS pastoral care as well as the internet pastoral care offered a welcome addition to a direct conversation with a pastor or to telephone pastoral care . Many, especially younger people, gladly accepted this offer. They appreciated that there was very little inhibition when it came to raising a question.

Furthermore, because of the short written form, the problem that needs to be communicated had to be addressed as pointedly as possible. Conversely, this also applied to the answer. Essentials could also be communicated in a few words; this is what the written and spoken language have in common.

See also

literature

  • SMS pastoral care: Help via mobile phone , from Katharina Morello, in the Zürcher Kirchenbote 2000/17
  • Article SMS counseling by Monique Aebischer-Crettol, in: New media and suicidality, dangers and intervention options (Elmar Etzersdorfer, Georg Fiedler, Michael Witte eds.), Göttingen 2003, pp. 101–111
  • Elisabeth Brun-Enderlin, speak just one word - pastoral care by email and SMS , in the Bündner Kirchenbote 2006/05

Web links

Commons : Internet and SMS pastoral care  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 10 Years of SMS Pastoral Care, July 29, 1999-2009 , SRF Regional Journal Zurich Schaffhausen, broadcast on December 10, 2009