The 988 hotline is for anybody experiencing distress, anywhere in the United States.
You can call for yourself, for someone in your family or a friend. It’s available 24/7, and it’s free and confidential.
#health #mentalhealth #stress #PSA
https://theconversation.com/as-suicides-rise-in-the-us-the-988-hotline-offers-hope-but-most-americans-arent-aware-of-it-210356
@TheConversationUS last I checked the 988 hotline had an official policy of bringing the cops in if they get the impression that the person is serious about harming themselves.
As police are generally not very competent at de-escalating such situations, there may be very good reason to advise *against* using the 988 hotline.
As someone who volunteered on a crisis hotline, I think it's very important to know that when you call many of these services (including 988) that you consent to them calling 911 if they believe you are in danger of harming yourself or someone else.
If you are in the kind of situation where you need help, you should seek it, but I think that services like this also need to be more open and up front about the fact that your anonymous call isn't anonymous, and could result in a visit by the police.
As someone who always felt a lot of guilt when someone was telling me they were in a crisis, and I knew that if they didn't convince me and my supervisor that they weren't in danger, it felt a bit like a threat, and while I want to see everyone happy and healthy, help needs to also be consensual.
@serge I feel like we're pretty up front about it these days, but yes -- imminent danger to anyone *can* result in call to law enforcement or EMS.
Be clear though: counselors will do all that they can to help reduce risk and deescalate the situation first.
The justification I used in my mind was that if someone is calling a crisis hotline, they must want help, and you're right, the number of EMS calls my supervisor had to make was roughly 1% of all calls, despite the fact that 70-80% of people I talked to mentioned self-harm or ending their own life.
Nonetheless, the issues around privacy, including (but not limited to) calling EMS bothered me. When I was asked to misdirect, or not answer someone with a full, truthful answer caused me trauma. When someone would say "Is it just us talking?" or "Can anyone else read our conversation?" I was trained to give non answers like "It's just you and me." but I knew full well that my supervisor, or the system as a whole kept the conversations, mining it for information.
When someone had made it clear that they were in imminent danger, and it became clear to them that I'd need to call EMS, it was traumatic for both of us...
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It meant that the conversation now shifted to "I need to be able to check this box saying you're okay enough that police won't come to your door. Sometimes it didn't feel like help as much as a threat, "Please, don't make them call the police!" was a phrase I never uttered, but I thought.
Maybe the police would help, but I also knew that the police being called would be traumatic for them. The only justifications I had was "It's better than them dying, and they asked for help.", but that ignores the issue of dignity. Convincing someone to stay around a bit longer, to work through their problems- that felt good. I loved helping people.
But forcing them them say that they'd follow a plan under threat- that felt different, and it was a bad feeling.
I want people to choose help. I want people to be safe. I also want that help to be freely given and received.
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@serge
Our calls are recorded. They *have* to be.
1. We counselors need to be sure we're doing our best, giving the best support. I hate it, but I understand it. That's internal use only.
2. We could receive a subpoena. Say if someone called us, later died, and family sued us for not preventing it.
We fiercely maintain HIPAA otherwise.
I always explain that to anyone who asks, and am surprised you worked for someplace that didn't.
Lynda Woolard
The Conversation U.S.
Upthorn
Serge from Babka
Night 🌊✨