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A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1953 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the English speaking world at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have expanded their mandate to deal more generally with emotional crises. Similar hotlines operate to help people in other circumstances, including rape victims, bullying victims, runaway children, human trafficking victims, and people who identify as LGBT or intersex.

History

Such services began in 1953, when Chad Varah, an English vicar, founded The Samaritans service, which soon established branches throughout the United Kingdom. The first Samaritans branch in the United States was established in Boston in 1974. In addition to Boston, there are currently Samaritan branches in Falmouth, Massachusetts (serving the Cape Cod and Islands area), the Merrimack Valley, the Fall River/New Bedford area. Outside of Massachusetts, there are branches in New York City, Providence, Hartford, Albany, and Keene, New Hampshire.

In the United States, the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center was founded in 1958 and was the first in the country to provide a 24-hour suicide prevention crisis line and use community volunteers in providing hotline service. San Francisco Suicide Prevention started a hotline "Call Bruce" in 1962.

A similar service, Lifeline, was established in Australia in 1963.

Another service, the volunteer-run crisis helpline, Lifelink Samaritans Tas. Inc, originally called Launceston Lifelink, was established in Tasmania in 1968 by concerned citizens of Launceston, Tasmania who decided to create a phone service based on the principles of The Samaritans. The rationale was that people often become suicidal because they cannot discuss their emotional pain with family and friends.

This service provides emotional support 24 hours a day to people throughout Tasmania and does not have any religious affiliations. The organisation is a member of Befrienders Worldwide and has a "twinning" relationship with Northampton Samaritans in the UK. Lifelink Samaritans is the oldest telephone befriending service in Tasmania and the fourth oldest in Australia and it receives at least 5,000 calls a year.

Criticism and logistical issues

One criticism of suicide hotlines in the past was that those who were determined to kill themselves were unlikely to call one. Also, those with social anxiety may not have the emotional resources to do so. There is little evidence that suicide hotlines reduces the incidence of suicide. A 2007 study suggests as people's thoughts of suicide decreased during a call to a crisis line, and were lessened for several weeks after their call. These callers are commonly known as frequent, chronic, multiple or repeat callers. A systematic review of research into frequent callers to crisis helplines found a need to further understand this group of callers and why they continue to use helplines.

Telephone counseling

Some countries regulate the use of the term "counselor". Telephone counseling and crisis hotlines provide a similar telephone support service, and both usually accept crisis and non-crisis calls. In the United States, many college campuses have established telephone counseling lines serviced by student volunteers to compensate for the high demand placed on college mental health services. These hotlines serve callers in crisis, but also serve to provide a listening ear for people who "just need to talk." Typically, hotlines are staffed by volunteers, and are not intended to replace professional, long-term counseling services. They are rather intended to carry callers through an immediate situation. Such hotlines exist at the University of Maryland, the University of Minnesota, Tufts University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Drexel University, Caldwell University, and Texas A&M University.

The term "emotional support helpline" is sometimes used – which does not imply crisis or counselling, and can include email and text messaging. Such services have allowed for the wider dissemination of resources for people facing mental health crises.

With developments in mobile telephony, the use of text or SMS (short message service) has been utilised by counselling services. Youthline, a youth-oriented crisis helpline in New Zealand began providing a text messaging counselling support line in 2004

Online, telephone, TDD/TTY and SMS help

The inclusion or exclusion of items from this list or length of this list is disputed. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.

Examples include:

The Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines (VESH) represents 1200 member centres in 61 countries. It has been formed by:

• Befrienders Worldwide (maintained by the Samaritans UK)
• IFOTES – International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services,
• Lifeline International

See also

• Hotline
• Complaint system
• List of counseling topics
• List of suicide crisis lines
• Telephone counseling
• Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (2013 documentary film)

References

1. Samaritanshope.org Archived October 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
2. "Capesamaritans.org". Capesamaritans.org. September 24, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
3. Familyserviceinc.com Archived September 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
4. "Samaritans-fallriver.org". Samaritans-fallriver.org. August 26, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
5. "Samaritansnyc.org". Samaritansnyc.org. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
6. "Samaritansri.org". Samaritansri.org. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
7. Suicidology.org Archived July 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
8. Orgsites.com Archived January 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
9. "Volunteersolutions.org". Volunteersolutions.org. January 20, 2011. Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. "Brief History of Suicide Prevention in the United States". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
11. "The SFSP Website". Sfsuicide.org. October 25, 2011. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
12. "Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General – Chapter 3". Surgeongeneral.gov. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
13. "An Evaluation of Crisis Hotline Outcomes – Part 2: Suicidal Callers". Atypon-link.com. January 1, 1970. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
14. Middleton, Aves; Gunn, Jane; Bassilios, Bridget; Pirkis, Jane (February 11, 2014). "Systematic review of research into frequent callers to crisis helplines". Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. 20 (2): 89–98. doi:10.1177/1357633X14524156.
15. "University of Maryland - Counseling Center at University of Maryland". www.counseling.umd.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
16. "Crisis Connection". www.umn.edu. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
17. "Tufts Ears for Peers | "Promise me you will always remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." –A.A. Milne". sites.tufts.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
18. "Nightline: Barnard-Columbia Peer Listening". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
19. "EARS - Empathy, Assistance & Referral Service". ears.dos.cornell.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
20. "Peer Counseling - Counseling and Health Services". Counseling and Health Services. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
21. "The Counseling Center- Hotlines - Caldwell University, New Jersey". Caldwell University, New Jersey. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
22. "HelpLine | Student Counseling Service". scs.tamu.edu. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
23. Haxell, A. (2014). Textual activity at Youthline (NZ). New Zealand Journal of Counselling, 34(2), 18-31.
24. "Suicidepreventionlifeline.org". Suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
25. "Veterans Crisis Hotline - Hotline & Online Chat". Retrieved December 6, 2011.
26. "Lifeline & Trevor Chat". Retrieved December 6, 2011.
27. "SPEAK UP Hotline Info". Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
28. "Sociedadeamigosdavida.org.br". Sociedadeamigosdavida.org.br. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
29. "Befrienders.org". Befrienders.org. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
30. IFOTES.org Archived June 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
31. http://www.lifeline-international.org/looking_for_help

• Telephone numbers
• Suicide prevention
• Crisis hotlines
• Telecommunications-related introductions in 1953