I had the pleasure of joining the wonderful community of trained Crisis Counselors, called Crisis Text Line, back in October 2016. If you know me, then you have probably heard me praise this company because it is such an amazing organization to be a part of. However, some of you may be thinking to yourself, "what is crisis text line?" Great question! Crisis Text Line is a non-profit that is designed to work like a crisis helpline, except we communicate with people through text messaging only, and it is completely anonymous unless you wish to share your name.
Yes, you read that correctly. So, if you find yourself feeling anxious, depressed, or even suicidal, you can text HOME to 741741 at any time. There are awesome Crisis Counselors waiting to help 24/7. The overall goal of the texting service is to get those who are struggling to reach a cool calm by the end of the conversation. Also, if you know someone in your life who could benefit from the texting service, you can easily refer them to seek help from a crisis counselor. As long as they have the number 741741, they can text whatever is on their mind and there will be a trained professional on the other side of the line, no matter what day, or what time it is.
I have found that volunteering with Crisis Text Line for almost a year now has allowed me to become a better person overall and is positively impacting me every single time I log onto the platform for my shifts. I strongly recommend applying to volunteer if you are interested in the mental health field and are wanting to pursue that as a career. I know it has been an amazing learning experience for me, and I plan to continue to be a part of the Crisis Text Line family for many years to come.
There is a training process, which is extremely beneficial to those who are new to the crisis hotline field, and every candidate undergoes a background check to make sure you are fit for the role. However, once you can knock-out the training, then you will be on your way to saving some lives and gaining an experience of a lifetime with some lovely human beings by your side.
Everyone is assigned a coach to help you navigate through the training process to help you become familiar with what is expected from you, but let me just say they are all amazing and quite hilarious if I do say so myself. That goes for the supervisors too, who you're assigned to any time you log onto the platform. Your supervisor will always change, but they always have your back when you may have a difficult conversation, they will never leave you hanging alone.
So, if by now you feel like you would want to be a Crisis Counselor yourself and participate in the 6-week training process, apply here. You truly won't regret it because it is such a rewarding experience when you get those messages from your coach reminding you that you are making a difference by quoting feedback your texters have sent in. Plus, you make tons of friends that will definitely last a lifetime and what could be better than helping save lives one text at a time?
