An Overlooked Mental Health Option - Call a Hotline

Today about one in four American adults are living with a diagnosable mental disorder. However, the average American's understanding of mental illness is minimal at best and often the stigma surrounding individuals with mental illness is almost as harmful to them as their actual disease. To further complicate matters there is a large sector of the population that does not have a diagnosable mental disorder but still needs some help from time to time dealing with the overwhelming stress of everyday life. While there is certainly no one solution to address these concerns, there is an option that most Americans fail to take advantage of: the phone hotline. Whether individuals are discouraged from calling because they think it is weird, they are embarrassed of their issue or they think that no one cares what they have to say, they are missing out an opportunity that could potentially make them feel a whole lot better, and it's free. Let's be honest, we could all use a little therapy. Talking just makes you feel better, and talking about yourself to a rapt audience, well who could ask for more? I am a volunteer counselor at a major American international call forwarding peer counseling and crisis intervention hotline and although not all hotlines are alike in their procedure or practice I wanted to highlight some of the little known facts about the phone hotline I work at, in order to better educate the average person about this important resource. Firstly, no issue is too big or too small to talk about and once you take the first step and call, extremely well trained counselors are there to listen with an empathetic ear and unconditional positive regard. In my experience, volunteers usually participate in this type of work because they have had a time in their own life when they needed help as well. While calls are kept confidential and anonymous it is always possible that the person you call for help has been on the other end of the phone before. Volunteers at my hotline are interviewed and then accepted based on different criteria including their ability to be non-judgmental, their empathy skills, and their passion for helping others. A rigorous training weekend ensues followed by a semester of weekly "on the job" teaching. Trainees receive practice calls from counselors and each call is then scrutinized and strategic listening and counseling skills are discussed. Usually after about two semesters of learning, a trainee will take an oral exam and it will be determined whether or not this new volunteer is ready to answer phones on their own. My phone hotline has many different listening and helping strategies its volunteers employ, and is prepared to deal with a myriad of potential issues. We practice Rogerian client-centered therapy which means we do our best to let the callers talk about their issue and come to their own conclusions about their feelings and potential courses of action. In general there is a basic flow to a call that includes active listening, empowerments and options. First counselors listen to a client, repeat back to them their thoughts, paraphrase their stories and try to focus in on specific feeling words. By acting as a sounding board, a counselor has allowed a caller to listen to themselves, clarify behaviors, and discover patterns. Counselors also empower callers by determining what the caller deems positive behavior or thoughts and highlighting the good things that are coming from these behaviors or thoughts. If the counselor feels it is appropriate based on the rapport between themselves and the caller, the conversation may turn to options. In this portion of the call the counselor suggests resources and courses of action to address the issue discussed, and asks the caller whether or not they would feel comfortable trying that option, allowing the caller to choose for him or herself what is best. Volunteers never give advice, say "I think" or "you should." We are not licensed psychologists or medical doctors, simply people who want to listen and help people discover their own path to contentment.