For once, in my life finally talked to suicide prevention

[devilishlicorice🌑]

I finally got to the point where I decided to turn to suicide prevention hotline. Honestly I thought it would be better. Maybe they would make me feel better. I decided to text instead of call because I can get nervous. The guy texting was nice enough but when he gave me the phone number for suicide prevention And one other number ,the people on the phone just sounded so fed up so done with talking to people like us they made me feel so shit for even trying made me feel even more guilty for even trying to call. I've never cried so hard never felt so nervous. They ask you why you're there like it's not obvious you called because you're desperate and you want to die. I just hung up both times not knowing what to do they don't even ask your name.

 

[FuneralCry]

It's because they don't really care about other people's suffering after all.

 

[Deleted member 65988]

This is why hotlines are obsolete and pointless, these people on the phone are there to collect a paycheck, they aren't really going to be empathetic towards your problems nor will care to sit through and listen to reasons why you've considered ctb as an alternative to staying alive. I'm sorry you had to be subject to such insensitivity from them, you deserved better and this is why people are alos reluctant to reach out.

 

[en-bat-y]

yea, in my experience even when it goes well it tends to feel hollow, basically they're like "that sucks, have a good day" or "that sucks, i'll, call 911 and now you'll be subject to the abuse of hospitalization" -.- sigh. it's awful and unfair and broken and not your fault.

 

[Final_Choice]

Unfortunately they're not meant for people like us, I've looked into it and apparently 98% of callers are just people who want to rant about something to someone, not people who actually want to CTB. All they're equipped for and try to do is listen and send someone if you're part of that 2%. They mostly just care about that much larger percentage of people that just want someone to listen, that's all they really do.

 

[Jolene79]

Do people get paid to answer those calls. I'm really sorry you had to experience their fake hollow bullshit. I've used a support line here in the UK. It's manned by volunteers so you usually feel that there is a want or will to listen. I've had one where after 20 minutes they were ushering me off the phone.

I've found this site to be the most supportive and understanding I ever could get in my horrible situation.

 

[tiger b]

I can tell you about a family member who worked for the Samaritans in the UK some years ago. There was no pay.

They had been through a lot. They were trying to find a purpose, to 'help'. I wouldn't say they were particularly pro-life. A lot of the training was listening.

95% of the calls were just perverts talking about all sorts of sexy stuff, drunk, getting off basically, some very graphic. Imagine having to deal with that four, five hours straight. I actually can't remember much about the genuine calls. She didn't say much about them. I got the impression there wasn't very much you could do but listen.

I gather some are better at it than others.

She happened to meet people high up in the organisation and didn't think much of them. I think she quit after a year, realising how it was largely pointless.

I don't know if things have changed. Probably, not very much.

 

[Kit1]

I live in the UK and know of volunteers for various charities who run helplines. I have also used various telephone lines. Usually they tend to be good - but some of them are a let down.

 

[Final_Choice]

Do people get paid to answer those calls. I'm really sorry you had to experience their fake hollow bullshit. I've used a support line here in the UK. It's manned by volunteers so you usually feel that there is a want or will to listen. I've had one where after 20 minutes they were ushering me off the phone.

I've found this site to be the most supportive and understanding I ever could get in my horrible situation.

I only know for US, but it's usually volunteers. There's usually a higher up helping the volunteers and that person might be a full time employee and get paid but at least over here it's mostly volunteers, usually just premed students who need service hours and something else for their resume. Thought it might be different in the UK.

 

[viljalauss]

I can tell you about a family member who worked for the Samaritans in the UK some years ago. There was no pay.

They had been through a lot. They were trying to find a purpose, to 'help'. I wouldn't say they were particularly pro-life. A lot of the training was listening.

95% of the calls were just perverts talking about all sorts of sexy stuff, drunk, getting off basically, some very graphic. Imagine having to deal with that four, five hours straight. I actually can't remember much about the genuine calls. She didn't say much about them. I got the impression there wasn't very much you could do but listen.

ah yeah this is real :/ i volunteer for a uk helpline (nowhere near as high profile as samaritans) and we have like.. not 95% but a large enough proportion of non-genuine calls that we have to keep a log of repeat offenders and keep updating protocol for dealing with them as some of them can get manipulative. it sucks cause sometimes that'll mean i'm burnt out by the time a genuine call comes around.

but yea i suppose that's one problem with several hotlines (in the uk for example) broadening their scope to people at different levels of stress including those who just want a listening ear - especially over text it's hard to recognise someone's desperate or specifically suicidal when they're calling because we can't assume they're calling for that reason. also the nervousness when talking/texting hotlines is real ): i may make a thread asking for helpful things people have gotten from hotlines or would want if it doesn't already exist (note to self)