Koketso Moloto is the Girls and Boys Town national hotline counsellor based at the Kagiso residential centre which is a home-away-from-home to some 60 to 70 vulnerable youngsters each year. Koketso is calm, collected and loves her job. This is a very important function for Girls and Boys Town, and one that contributes to the successful residential and outreach programmes and various interventions that strengthen vulnerable youth.  Koketso has been a valuable member of staff at GBT for 11 years, first as a family worker before becoming the official national hotline counsellor. Her experience in social services has helped her handle hotline requests she receives daily. She speaks fondly of her various cases, most of which are rewarding successful stories while some are more difficult than others. The hotline receives an average of 10-15 calls daily and majority of the calls are from parents or community members seeking advice and help for a child or adolescent. The calls vary from domestic relations between a vulnerable youth and family members to cases of youth experiencing challenges at school. The process she follows is to identify the issue, actively listen and explain how she can help the caller. She is fluent in English and many of the South African official languages which relaxes the discussion and enables Koketso and the caller to relate to one another.  Next, she identifies the nuts and bolts of the situation: who, when, where, why and what happened just before a challenging behaviour was demonstrated by the youth. What was the specific behaviour – for example, refusing to follow parent’s directions, also what were the youth’s body movements and facial expressions. Finally, the problem-solving for solutions. Was there an increase or decrease in behaviour, the types and effectiveness of the possible solutions?  Koketso believes in being positive when providing her assistance. With her guidance, callers reflect on their strengths and what might have worked in the past, and what positive (or negative) outcomes occurred. She maintains that entering into therapeutic residential care, such as provided at Girls and Boys Town, is the last of a range of options as there are many prior interventions that can help. Identifying and addressing the root cause of the problematic challenging behaviour with the individual and the family almost always yields positive results. During her follow up sessions with the individual and the family, she mentions that the families support has had a positive breakthrough in assisting the vulnerable youth. She considers her relationships with social workers and other community-based service providers as crucial to doing her work effectively. Although Girls and Boys Town centres have an age limit of 8-18, Koketso has worked on cases outside of this age group. In such instances, she undertakes a supporting and referral role. She also receives calls that are beyond the scope of Girls and Boys Town – for example adoption, fostering a child and fertility – queries for which Koketso refers the clients to external agencies.  Kokesto’s love for her job shows in her commitment to the Kagiso community and GBT is very honoured and proud to have her on the team. The services that Koketso provides can be strenuous for her but she says what keeps her going is knowing that so many people depend on her and she would not want to let disappoint them. The job comes with its ups and downs and when it becomes stressful for her, she takes some time to regroup to get her energy up and refocuses on her goals.