I have been a volunteer for Crisis Text Line for six months now. Crisis Text Line is a nonprofit organization that provides confidential crisis intervention through text messaging. By having the opportunity to be a crisis counselor, I can answer texts from people who reach out during a crisis and bring them "from a hot moment to cool calm." I'm not allowed to talk about much due to confidentiality between me and the texters, but I would like to briefly explain what I do because it is an important role in people's lives that many are unaware of.
As a counselor, when you are assigned a texter the conversation can go in many different directions. The individuals who are texting are going through a situation that is either tragic, upsetting, traumatic, or just a difficult moment and they really need someone to talk to and support them. No matter what an individual is going through, they deserve support and that is what we are here to offer them.
When it comes to each conversation they average about 45 minutes — but it truly depends on the severity of the situation of the person texting in. Some individuals are at imminent risk in which they are harmful to themselves or they are in danger because of another person. Further, there are also cases regarding children and people that are third-party individuals that are reaching out on behalf of a loved one and we handle each situation in a specific manner so a conversation length can vary.
Yes, we have special guidelines in place for the specific situations that I just mentioned but for every conversation, we are taught general steps that we must take and follow for each conversation to ensure support, safety, and provide coping mechanisms that might help in the future if they are in a similar situation.
We always start with building trust with the texter following that with exploring the situation and then risk assessing so we can know whether they are safe or not.
From that point, it can vary what steps are taken but if they are safe then we start developing goals and then discussing coping mechanisms, eventually ending the conversation after that.
Since we are available 24/7 for individuals to reach out throughout the entire United States, each volunteer gets to pick their shifts for any time. We can also just hop on when help is needed. In times like today, with the coronavirus pandemic and the election occurring, the number of texters that reach out to outnumbers the number of volunteers available during different times. Sometimes shifts can be hectic, or very slow, depending on the different times of the day and upcoming events such as holidays and major events.
Not every shift do I end up feeling my best — sometimes conversations do not continue or you have a negative experience with a texter. When texters open to me, some of the things that they tell me are very hard to hear and keep to myself. But when moments like this happen, we are encouraged to reach out to our coaches for support and a debriefing about the conversation and what happened.
Personally, what being a volunteer at Crisis Text Line has taught me is to realize that we have to be more understanding about those around us because we do not know what they are going through.
Sometimes the things that these individuals are experiencing I would have never imagined and it is difficult for me to find the right words to respond to them with. This position is challenging at times because you have to put aside your judgments and your opinions no matter what to provide the correct support. Additionally, I am not a professional that can give advice and texters sometimes forget that and I need to stick to my guidelines to provide the support that a volunteer crisis counselor can provide.
I love my role as a Crisis Text Line counselor because I can make someone's day better and provide one on one support that can change a persons life. If you are ever allowed to volunteer as a crisis counselor I would highly suggest it because it can teach you more about yourself and those around you.
