The Whole Nine Yards

 Well, there was one time I got dragged into the manager's office. 

It was regarding a regular caller. I still remember the name. I was fond of that one. You spend enough time with this stuff, it's hard not to think about it. Well, be careful with your social media. That was the take home. Don't you go posting on facebook even a vague reference. The slightest detail. It didn't matter I didn't use the name. They monitor the social media when you work/volunteer there. You can't reference anything at all. I talked to that one many times. I felt like I understood. Oh, there was no advice giving. Not allowed. Reflections, validations, and then what's your plan? And then you forget.

Suicide in Progress

The one I remember most. It was on Crisisline. She was a young adult, I'd guess right around 19. I don't know what the PC term is. Latino? Hispanic? She was in a panic.

My brother is out front waving a gun! He says he's going to kill himself! 

And, per procedure, my partner/supervisor is by my side, on the line with 911.

Tell him you love him. Tell him it's gonna be ok. We've got help on the way.

There was another procedure. You end the call, you don't find out what happens. 

The final procedure: if it goes the wrong way, you get debriefed.

WE NEVER GOT DEBRIEFED.

Guardian

 I am the Guardian and I walk in the light. I have a home. That home is Crisisline/988.

I lived there for 3 and a half years. I remember the building. The halls. The call room. The systems. They may have changed. It's 988 now. It wasn't always local of course. Calls were sometimes rerouted from centers that weren't available.

I was one of a handful of male trainees at the training. By the time I was volunteering, I was the only male volunteer or entry level worker. There was one other male worker. I remember him well. On these things I have to be very vague. We all live here.

There were three lines. Crisisline, Julie Valentine, and SafeHarbor.

Julie Valentine was definitely the darkest one. Stuff you never wanted to know that you didn't want to know. Most of the callers were female. But when the only two people in the room are male, you don't gotta lotta options. There was one caller that had a history. You wanted to write it off as make believe. You didn't want to know. It sounded like an NC-17 movie. It sounded like The Shining. I remember it well. That's all I'm gonna say about that. I had enough sense and training to keep my comments limited. It was sad.

Crisisline was more meat and potatoes. When it got serious, it got life and death. But there were plenty of regulars. 

SafeHarbor was not as dark as JV. It was processing. This happened, this person is dangerous, can they find me? Where's the police escort? Well, they found the shelter last time. They're gonna track me down. Again, mostly females. It was hard to find options for males. But they did end up having to call.