Twitter Good Works: Richard Bassett Real Help In A Time Of Crisis
Everywhere you look on the Internet, charitable causes have set up websites offering services and seeking donations. How do you navigate the maze of charities when you are in need of help? One man has appeared online in the Twitterverse with a helping hand to those in need. Richard Bassett, CADAC has opened a place on Twitter to guide people in the often grueling task of finding someone who can help them in a time of crisis. Richard has brought his knowledge and expertise of putting those in need together with a charity that can actually assist them with their individual requirements.
Speaking with Richard I was struck by his relaxed demeanor. A man with a calming strength and deep knowledge of the struggle those who are often invisible in our communities live with daily. He discusses his background in social services, counseling and community support with an ease that is both dynamic and comforting. Within moments of speaking with him I realized this is the person of whom I wanted to be in contact if I was faced with a personal crisis.
His life is the stuff of Hollywood and where his story actually begins. Living in LA during the 1980s Richard was an aspiring actor and model who supplemented his income as an X-Ray Technician. Which as he put it I could make much more money (opposed to a being valet or a waiter) and could adjust my hours around my auditions. Then in 1984 Richard began working with a colleague, amFar director Dr. Michael Gottlieb doing chest X-Rays of HIV/AIDS patients. I took the radiographs of these patients and they were the worst chest x-rays I had ever seen in my career. Richard explained. I was crushed to see healthy patients literally die in a matter of weeks. There was no treatment at the time.
Richard eventually gave up his dreams of being an actor and returned to his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. He soon rose to a management position in radiology left him cut off from working with the patients about whom he cared so deeply. To reconnect, Richard began volunteering with the AIDS Helpline. Bassett adds, In talking to thousands of callers, I concluded that AIDS and Addiction were massive issues.
He moved away from his comfortable career in medical management and returned to college to pursue a degree in social services. Though friends and colleagues tried to dissuade him, Richard was steadfast in following this new path. He adds, I got a job as an HIV/AIDS Case Manager and returned to school, (University of Massachusetts), and became a Certified Drug & Alcohol Addictions Counselor specializing in dual diagnoses. I took to it like a fish to water.
It was in 2009 that he began looking for a way to help greater numbers of people. Twitter became the perfect place to share his knowledge and experience in social services with a wider audience. It was Richards goal was to create a place where he could easily be approached and interact with the urgency that is so often required when a person is searching for help. He began a basic but convincing Tweet dialogue with those he could see shared his goals of helping others and joined a network that is always ready to retweet his message to their networks for greater impact.
Richard is able to help others on Twitter (http://twitter.com/RichBassett) where he has listed many of the organizations and charities with which he has worked. Every day he sends out beacons of hope in the form of tweets composed of names and links to trusted charities; tweets that he knows can lead those in need of assistance back to him for compassionate advice.