Baker helped build the counseling model and training curriculum for the post-abortion talkline. “The talkline is the main way for people to volunteer,” says Baker. “We currently have 30 women on the talkline and another 12 that are going to start in July. They have to be interviewed to make sure that their values match our [nonjudgmental] values and that they can learn our counseling model.”

Exhale uses a phone service, so when a person calls the talkline, they are first connected to an operator. The operators have the volunteer counselors’ home phone numbers or cell phone numbers and patch the callers through. When a counselor is on call, she’s at home with her phone in a place that is quiet and private. As a result, counselors can go on with other productive, home-based activities in between calls.

Although Exhale can only accept volunteers from the San Francisco Bay Area, there is plenty that can be done across the United States in order to help.

“We’re still a new and young service so volunteers outside of our immediate area could help by downloading our brochure and putting them at their local coffee shop,” Baker explains. “If they’re more of a self-motivated type of individual, call up local clinics and health organizations and let them know about us.”