Debbie Sis, The Listening Post | Every Little Bit
11/24/2025 | 2m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
Debbie Sis is a volunteer for the Listening Post, a group that provides non-judgmental listeners.
Debbie Sis of Anchorage has been a volunteer with the Listening Post since the organization began in 2008. The group has stations around the city staffed with people who provide a non-judgmental partner for visitors to share their stories with. From someone who just found housing to a person who lost their job, Sis says just being present can make a positive impact on a stranger’s life.
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Every Little Bit is a local public television program presented by AK
Debbie Sis, The Listening Post | Every Little Bit
11/24/2025 | 2m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
Debbie Sis of Anchorage has been a volunteer with the Listening Post since the organization began in 2008. The group has stations around the city staffed with people who provide a non-judgmental partner for visitors to share their stories with. From someone who just found housing to a person who lost their job, Sis says just being present can make a positive impact on a stranger’s life.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipI've always, believed in volunteering, and I was a Girl Scout.
I was 18 and worked in a hospital, it was I wanted to be a doctor and it wasn't in the cards.
So I'd hang out in the year and, learn some skills and give moral support.
my name is Debbie.
Sis and I live in Anchorage, Alaska.
The listening post, began, in 2008, we opened at the transit center, and we just listen.
We don't give advice.
don't cheerlead.
We don't say, hey, that's great.
And then maybe life doesn't unfold the way they thought it would, and then they would not feel free to come back to us to share the outcome or their next chapter.
Our main goal of the listening post is being a listening presence, if they're sharing their story, however they want to share it.
I'm holding that with Sacred Trust.
it's a very special kind of listening.
So that to me is true presence.
holding the space with, with the heart, if someone feels valued and they start feeling loved, Lo companionship and feeling valued to me is just as important as as the medicine.
try it.
And if it doesn't resonate, then try something else.
There's a lot of opportunities out there and it just magnifies.
And it makes your life so much richer.
when I talk to people, a lot of times they may have a different opinion than me.
Whether it's in politics, philosophy, just lifestyle, whatever.
Doesn't matter.
I think it helps us to be able to learn how connected we are and having understanding that we have so much more in common than we do differences.
there's always something that you can that you can do if you want to volunteer, when you get out and you give to others, it comes back to you, I believe, a thousand fold.
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Every Little Bit is a local public television program presented by AK