Suicide Hotline Manager
CantSay, US
Female, 0
I supervise and train telephone operators for a suicide hotline. In addition to answering phones myself, I am also available when questions about protocol come up or if a phone operator is having trouble dealing with the emotions being expressed by a caller. Like many non-profits, we are now in danger of being shut down because of budget cuts.
I think a number of factors go into play. For one thing, suicide rates are higher in areas of economic and political crisis. For example, Greece used to have the lowest suicide rate in Europe, but since the financial collapse, it has had one of the highest. Probably another consideration is the availability of mental health care and crisis intervention, which is pretty weak in most countries. Additionally, in more interdependent cultures, it is hard to acknowledge personal needs when the normative value is on preserving balance within the social circle.
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Our preventative nature often comes out in that callers reach out to us before reaching a high-risk mindset. They use us to blow off steam, to find someone who cares, to get a referral for a mental health professional. We certainly have callers who express suicidal thoughts or seem in imminent danger, but we are also very open to callers who simply need to have a conversation about the stresses and heartaches they are experiencing.
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We will do our best to emotionally support the caller, to help them not feel alone. We will even offer to call an ambulance if there is a potential emergency. We will not stay on the phone, though, if it seems the callers is in the process of hurting themselves. It is important that callers understand that we are not there to listen to them kill themselves, but rather give them every chance to talk about their emotions and connect with a human being during a terrible time.
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We have local and state funding as well as private donors. Honestly, I don't know much about that part of our organization.
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Our service is completely anonymous for both the callers and the operators. Callers should feel they can speak to any operator and receive the same level of service. We do our best to be emotionally supportive of callers without forming individual bonds.
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Honestly, I don't know about that beyond anecdotal evidence.
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It isn't necessarily to be able to relate to a caller to provide emotional support. In fact it's better if you can listen from an objective standpoint. It can be difficult to keep focused on the person you're speaking with if your own stuff is coming up.
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