Manning the Suicide Hotline

There was a rather sobering article in the Style section to the Washington Post regarding a young lady who works the night shift of the suicide prevention hotline: http://tiny.cc/d3al1 Talk about your intense, stressful job even if you're a trained professional.

Some years ago, I knew a lady who volunteered for a suicide prevention hotline. I believe she did it for credit in a college course she was taking. Anyway, she only did the hotline for couple of weeks. She didn't say if she'd burned out or just what. Only that it was "tiring," and she was glad to get home afterward. I believed her.

I also knew a nurse who took suicide calls at a pyschiatric treatment unit. One time she was telling the caller to flush a bunch of pills of some type. The nurse was frazzled afterward. It must just help to hear a sympathetic human voice in the lonely, desperate wee hours when the caller needs to hear one.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
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