Tele-Onthaal is a Flemish volunteer-based organisation, which provides telephonic support for people in distress (Telephonic Emergency Service). In 2002, Tele-Onthaal started offering online support. This online support offers new perspectives with regard to the realisation of the objectives of the organisation: adolescents are now more frequently reached and more delicate issues are discussed. Online support is an unfamiliar method though, and has some unique characteristics, which pose questions with regard to the worth of this method. For example: isn’t online conversation more distant than telephone calls and how can volunteers deal with this distance? Does online contact provide the volunteer with sufficient information on the caller for well-focused assistance? This article reports on the experiences with online support and the strategies used by Tele-Onthaal to deal with its special characteristics.