The use of volunteers in mental health service delivery has sparked a revolution, yet little is known about the characteristics of these individuals. This research is an investigation of the personal characteristics of volunteers in terms of their self-concept, self-disclosure relationships, and other self-actualizing measures. The purposes of the study are (a) to determine how these volunteers differ from other populations of volunteers on these attributes, (b) to examine the effects of training and supervised experience on these characteristics, (c) to evaluate their utilization as a trained community resource, and (d) to investigate the therapeutic effectiveness of these volunteers as manifest in client behaviors. These studies will allow us to improve our criterion for selection and training volunteers. They will further allow us to improve our development and utilization of this community resource in the delivery of mental health services.