Discussion have you texted or called a suicide prevention line? (how did it go?)

[Twiceler]

I didn't call them once. I had some curiosity about it, but it not worth it being police called on you.

The police officers are not meant to play games with people, so it may lead to consequences.

You only do that if you're sure that you're mentally ill unable to control yourself and seek for hospitalisation, like it's some sort of declaration invalidating yourself.

Maybe it does not work like that actually, but I think it does essentially.

 

[AlexYaBoy]

A couple of weeks, ago. It's a mens-only line. Was skeptical, at best. Was also *this* close to saying "Fuck it." Noose tied, and ready (as ready as you can be, while sober).

Spoke, at length, about major problems. We'll call her T. Very cool lady. Wasn't coated in professionalism, like everybody else.

Hasn't prevented my enthusiasm at the idea, but she definitely stopped me in my tracks.

God bless her.

 

[fleetingnight]

American here, so talking about American hotlines/textlines. They used to be really helpful to me, but they seemed to have gone downhill in the past few years imo.

I wouldn't say that it's not worth a shot. I haven't had success in texting 988, but a man I spoke to over a call was really kind and helpful and not demeaning or anything like that. I've had mostly good and just ok experiences with BeWellLine, again, calling was a bit better for some reason. I only called The Trevor Project once, but it really helped a lot. 741741 is useless to me nowadays, but you might come across someone helpful.

Generally, imo, they don't help as much as they should, but you could get lucky and connect to someone who knows what to say. Be sure to read their privacy policies carefully, though. I've called a lot and never had emergency services sent to me, but I always read their policies to see what would trigger that response.

 

[persimmon]

The 10 second pauses punctuated by 'right...' and 'hm...' were a big help but when he finally came up with 'that must be pretty tough' I was like WHOA. Epiphany. 10/10. Would recommend to anyone.

 

[Unicr0n]

Hotlines are for people who are on the brink of committing suicide, not those just with suicidal ideation. They're not going to be able to help with people who are chronically suicidal. You hear about all these bad experiences with the hotlines but most people who have positive experiences never leave a review.

Warmlines are for people with suicidal ideation but aren't on the brink of killing themselves. It's sad that the National Suicide Hotline is promoted toward anyone who hints at suicide instead of these warmlines.

I'm about to start volunteering at a hotline. I hope I can make the service better.

 

[fleetingnight]

Warmlines are for people with suicidal ideation but aren't on the brink of killing themselves.

Woah. I've been in treatment for a decade, and never heard of these once. Why don't they promote them more? Thank you so much for mentioning it.

Also, thank you for wanting to improve hotlines! You can tell when the volunteer you've connected gets how you feel or not, and it's really nice to talk to someone who gets it.

 

[vampire2002]

I've called on maybe, 3 separate occasions? the wait times are really long. often times someone would answer, and i'd get so nervous i'd hang up immediately, then just called again and sat through the long wait. but there are genuinely really nice people on there too. a lady on there comforted me a lot, she was patient and listened unlike most of them. it's much better than calling 911, in my experience.