Saving the life of another person is one of the most heroic acts.
Frequently we hear news about the heroism of first responders—police, firemen, paramedics—who respond to a 911 call and save a person during a life-threatening emergency.
Their work is critical to society and human life.
So too is the work of 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline staff, although their service typically occurs with much less public notice or fanfare
The Crisis Lifeline
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is the central piece in a national mental health crisis response system that provides mental health and substance abuse counseling to persons experiencing life-threatening and serious emotional crisis.
In addition to the nationwide telephone hotline (with state and local responders), the system also includes mobile teams to outreach and provide face-to-face crisis mental health services. Short-term crisis residential centers are also available in some states.
American citizens using these services may experience any one of a number of mental health crises. The particular crisis situations vary widely—from the death of a loved one to unemployment, from trauma to substance abuse trouble, from mental illness symptoms to facing a serious medical diagnosis—but a commonality is that people in crisis are often in despair.
At such times, the person’s problems can feel overwhelming, the emotional pain seemingly too much to bear, and hopelessness and helplessness can become pervasive.
For some people then, especially those with behavioral health conditions, suicide can seem like a viable option, even though the loss of a human life to suicide is a terrible tragedy—each person is precious, no matter what problems we face—and incredibly traumatic and sad for the person’s family, friends, and associates.
An Epidemic of Suicide
Unfortunately, however, we are living in an era when suicide is epidemic.
Nearly 50,000 Americans die of suicide each year—that averages to one person every 11 minutes. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 10 and 34. It is the fourth leading cause of death for people between 35 and 44.
And it is on the minds of many other people, especially youths. A recent CDC study found that 30 percent of teenage girls had seriously considered suicide (and 57 percent felt persistently sad or hopeless).
Helping people through crises and preventing suicide is an essential service.
Fortunately, mental health crisis workers can often prevent the tragedy of suicide for someone feeling hopeless and helpless by providing emotional support, teaching coping skills, and arranging for follow-up treatment.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is effective and critical, life-saving work.
But it’s not always easy.
Stressful Work
Indeed, crisis work can be very stressful.
The intensity of the suicidal situations, a shortage of available follow-up services, and service system problems, all contribute to stress and even burnout for these essential workers.
I was recently asked by the federal government to present a national webinar on stress and burnout to the national 988 crisis workforce. They, like many types of workers, face high levels of stress and the risk of burnout.
More than 600 crisis workers—frontline call workers, mobile crisis staff, residential crisis center, supervisors and administrators from 48 states and several territories—participated in the webinar.
Combating Burnout
The training provided an introduction to key principles related to stress and burnout and, most importantly, some of the strategies and skills you can use to reduce stress and combat burnout.
You can find a primer on these materials about combating burnout here.
The crisis workforce responded very favorably to the training. In particular, they valued
- learning to identify the early warning signs of personal burnout,
- reviewing several key skills (such as deep breathing, meditation, gratitude, and cognitive reframing) to cope with stress and burnout, and
- identifying some simple, practical strategies to reduce stress and prevent burnout.
In addition, one very simple but central idea also resonated with many of the workers:
Taking care of yourself and learning to cope with stress and burnouts is not only acceptable but necessary.
Because to do your job, and to care for others, you also need to take care of your own emotional well-being.
It’s true for tens of millions of workers across all occupations, including mental health crisis experts.
Perhaps it is true for you too?
Lead photo from Substance Abuse Mental Heath Services Administration
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