These Volunteers Listen To People's Problems For Free

When Benjamin Mathes founded Urban Confessional in 2012, his goal was to heal through the power of listening.

The project dispatches volunteers into cities to simply listen to passersby who want to talk to someone. Four years since its creation, Urban Confessional has expanded to 16 different countries, providing a free listening service to allow the public to be heard. On his website, Mathes identifies himself as a coach, an actor, an author, as well as a listener.

"Every time you share something, whether it's good news or bad news, and someone takes the time to hear it, it kind of makes you feel complete," Mathes said.

Plus, the benefits of the project are twofold, since the volunteers say that they are also positively impacted by actively listening.

"In practicing the muscle of listening to other people, I practice that same muscle for listening to myself," Nylda Ria Mark, an Urban Confessional volunteer, said.

In the video above, check out the project in action.