IN the quiet back room of a small office on Nanjing Xilu, life revolves around the unpredictable ring of a single phone. When its receiver has been lifted, it means the nameless voice on the other end of the line meets two criteria: speaks English and needs help. Some are in crisis - a death in the family, suicidal thoughts, a worsening alcohol problem. Others seek basic advice - how to order cable television or use a new washing machine. All have picked up the phone in search of someone to talk to or - more often - someone to listen.

"I had a woman ring up who was annoyed that her landlord kept barging into her apartment," recalls Victoria Hine, the director of LifeLine Shanghai. "She just yelled for 10 minutes, then said, 'Thanks for listening' and hung up."

Listening is what volunteers at the telephone hotline do, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Founded six months ago, the non-profit call centre tries to provide free, anonymous emotional support to Shanghai's growing expat community.

"We think it's very important to listen," says Janna van Duyn, LifeLine's volunteer co-ordinator. The 45-year-old mother of two from the Netherlands, who's been living in Shanghai for the last two years as a trailing spouse, is a trained child psychologist who emphasizes that volunteers don't strive to provide answers to all the callers' questions. "We're not here to just offer solutions, advice, opinions," says van Duyn. "If the caller finds his or her own solution, that's the one that works."

With four staff members, 58 rotating volunteers, a nine-member Board of Directors and a three-member Board of Governors, LifeLine - with a small office in the exclusive office building at Shanghai Centre, home of the swank Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel - runs like a well-oiled machine. Not bad for an organization that depends entirely on donations and sponsorships, is wildly proud over the expansion in August of its daily hours from eight to 12 (10:00am to 10:00pm) and recently celebrated its six-month anniversary.

To date, the small telephone room - equipped with little more than a three-line telephone, a desk, a laptop and a Rolodex ("a very high-tech information system", jokes Hine) - has logged about 450 calls. "It is so random," says Hine, sitting on a donated couch in the cozy, quiet office, next to a coffee machine - also donated - and canisters of cookies. "One day we can have 20 calls, the next we can have none. There is no 'peak time'."

More callers

There have been a few surprises, such as the fact that nearly 50 per cent of callers have been men. Broken down into general categories, callers' problems are topped by work-related issues, followed closely by relationships and alcohol ("Shanghai's hard, fast life issues," Hine says).

Such easily accessible help is invaluable to the city's foreign community, says Nathan Showalter, director of Community Center Shanghai, which from its headquarters in Pudong offers a host of programmes and support services to expats.

"On the surface, Shanghai looks like a very modern, cosmopolitan city. And it is," says Showalter. "But for a foreigner who doesn't speak the language, the first few months can be a very confusing time. This hotline really is a lifeline, something people can grab onto when they may be having trouble connecting with the people and services they need."

While all calls are anonymous and confidential (should the caller and volunteer - both members of the city's relatively small foreign community - recognize each other, which has not yet happened), staffers reveal that problems range from the mundane to the ultra-serious.

While one caller sought help finding a Chinese bicycle big enough to support his 6-foot-6-inch frame, many are at their wits' end.

"Some are dealing with deaths in the family or abortions," says van Duyn. "Or maybe the husband's off on a business trip and the wife's stuck in a hotel room with screaming kids."

In recent months, volunteers have noticed an increase in English-speaking Chinese callers, many wanting to talk about relationships, both personal and work-related. "I suppose there's some safety in speaking a foreign language (English)," says Hine. "In China, telling other people about your problems isn't as accepted. To be able to do it in a foreign language ... and talk about anything - sex, relationships, drugs - must be comforting. We don't judge."

LifeLine also has logged an increase in younger callers, whose complaints include everything from resentment of their parents for wresting them away from the life they knew and bringing them to Shanghai, to eating disorders and body image problems.

All calls are welcome at LifeLine, which - contrary to popular belief - is not only intended for those on the verge.

"There's this image that unless you're suicidal or having a serious crisis, you don't call LifeLine," says Hine. "We hope LifeLine will be a preventive service, and catch people before they get into serious problems."

Earnest support

Hine, the driving force behind the hotline, initially came to Shanghai eight years ago while working for International SOS, a medical evacuation company. While health care for foreigners these days is plentiful (the Worldlink clinic's waiting rooms are usually filled with expats and visitors waiting for checkups, obstetric care and other treatments), that wasn't always the case.

"Back then, there were limited medical services for foreigners," says Hine, 29, a native of Auckland, New Zealand. "More foreigners started coming in, and doctors started seeing an increase in everything from domestic abuse to psychosomatic symptoms - constant headaches, stomach pains." Above all, Hine - who is studying for her masters degree in psychology - noticed there were no mental health facilities for foreigners. For newcomers lacking experience with Shanghai's language, culture, daily life and fast pace, the possibility of trouble was high.

"People come here and they don't have their normal support structures: family, grandparents, aunties, uncles, friends, church groups, sports groups," says Hine. "Friendships are much more superficial; at home, you have a history with your friends. You come here, someone you meet at an Am-Cham coffee morning becomes your new best friend."

About two years ago, while studying long-distance for her masters degree, Hine became more committed to making LifeLine a reality. "I had a big interest, and the time to invest," she says.

After shoring up support from sponsors like Shanghai Family United, Elders Ltd, Worldlink, International SOS and the British Chamber of Commerce, and securing the donated office from the Shanghai Center (for decades considered an "expat haven", says Hine), LifeLine was off and running. The hotline started at four hours a day, expanding after three months to eight.

Now one of four staff members, Hine runs an office whose 58 volunteers, ages 22 through 65, speak 18 languages among them.

Though the office might start accepting applications again around the next Chinese New Year, LifeLine has had to turn away volunteers (they initially received more than 100 applications), all of whom are required to work at least 10 hours a week (two four-hour shifts, plus additional training on topics from teenage issues to stress management). Volunteers all receive a three-day training session that includes role-playing, lectures on ethics and instructions on "active listening".

"It's nice to be listened to," says Hine. "It's empowering. A lot of calls we get, there's a feeling of helplessness. We hear, 'I'm here for my job and don't necessarily want to be here,' or 'I can't use my washing machine. I've been doing laundry for 30 years, and I can't use this equipment!' By active listening, it gives them a feeling they have some control."

Until Shanghai's mental-health services catch up with the burgeoning general medical services now available to foreigners, Hine and her small army of volunteers hope LifeLine will become the outlet of choice for anyone in need of help. Think of it, she says, as free psychotherapy.

"Ring up and yell, cry, scream, vent - get it off your chest so it doesn't build into something you can't control," advises Hine. "It's a nice indulgence to have someone just say, 'How are you doing today?' with no strings attached."

10:00am to 10:00pm daily

LifeLine Shanghai

Tel: (021) 6279-8990