Danielle is my niece and a new social worker. It was a guest post from her. She has had great success in her work although she is only 26.

Her area is working with mentally disturbed teenagers. A difficult arena even for an experienced person.

i appreciate your comment.

You could not do this work without training. We would all be inclined to solve everyone’s problems when the attitude of the crisis lines is to guide the caller to solve their own.

That is our inclination. And they have found it is not helpful.

It is also the hardest lesson to learn – not only on a crisis line but in our everyday lives.

Thanks for commenting. But we would love to at least have your first name. We want to address you personally. As you can see, I try to respond to all who comment. You are so important to the conversation.

Although, I do admit, you are funny! Been following your posts on Twitter too!

BTW I know Danielle. You would love her. She is very funny too!

I’m really glad there is training available to help those willing to serve to stand firm and not get rocked off their base by cries for help from people who may or may not be ready to accept it. Good life lesson for me to remember to listen (and go with the flow) rather than try to solve a problem that is not up to me to solve.
.-= thatgirlisfunny´s last blog ..FML: Being Cynical is a Habit I have to Feed =-.

I am glad you liked the article and appreciate your thoughtful comments.

The author is a recent college graduate. Such a compassionate soul. There are many young people like her doing community work. We don’t hear much about them.

But they are there. Do you remember when we were young the older generation thought the future was doomed because of us?

We did fine. And still are.

Most crisis lines only ask that you work the phones for a few hours at a time because it is stressful.

When I did this work there was support always available to me. We were very well trained in advance and if you found you were over stressed or unable to cope with a caller there was a supervisor you could signal who would either plug into the call to assist or even take it over.

It is fulfilling work. And since you are a volunteer, you can set your own schedule.

There were many retirees who did this work. The biggest hurdle was we were instructed to avoid any direct advice. Hard to do when it is sometimes so obvious how to solve a problem.

Yes, bless those who work the crisis lines. I think sometimes people avoid them when they need to talk because they will have to reveal their identity.

Crisis lines never intervene unless a child is in danger or a person has already taken steps toward suicide and is too far gone to help himself as in too many pills to call anyone.

Then, they will trace the call and contact the police.

But in most cases, people just need someone to talk to. They are never asked for personal information.

So, as you said, CK, CALL! Do not be afraid. No one will judge you.

When eyes find those to help by saturating the darkness in unhappy lives with light and hope, a heart radiates with happiness in every direction. Beautiful!