Question by Summer, Director Of Administration And Special Programs
asked on 2022-01-14

What is your advice for hotline counselors protecting their mental health on the job? We are specifically (in part) a suicide prevention hotline. Hotline counselors often take stressful calls where they are disconnected from a caller without being able to help; they bear the brunt of verbally abusive callers; there are sexual prank phone calls; and there is heartbreak upon realizing there are no local resources to help some callers. Often one of these, or various other, scenarios might leave the counselor with feelings there may be little to no time to process before taking the next call. And that is notwithstanding what they have happening in their own lives. One counselor confided that he had to work the hotlines less than 24 hours after his own brother told him about his own suicidal ideations. Another veteran counselor ultimately resigned because he got to a point he had difficulty discerning who was having the crisis--if the veteran he was helping was suicidal, he felt suicidal himself. We have really great people taking these calls. I want to help them protect themselves as much as possible. Thanks so much for considering my long question.