Introduction Burnout is defined as a state of ineffectiveness comprising “emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.” (Maslach, 1982) It is a pervasive and frustrating state, accounting for a large portion of the turnover experienced in mental health services, including volunteer and paraprofessional organizations like crisis lines. There are a number of models of burnout,…
Tag: empathy
Active Listening on Crisis Lines
The core of emotional support, which is the service provided on crisis lines, is called active listening. Active listening is a special type of listening, distinct from the regular listening we do everyday. Active listening should also be separated from the work that counsellors and therapists do, which is called professional listening. While therapists and counsellors certainly…
What Makes a Good Crisis Line Volunteer
So, you want to become a crisis line, or suicide hotline volunteer. Congratulations! Not a lot of people feel like they’re able to do this work. It’s very difficult to spend hours alone in the middle of the night listening to someone talk about their depression, or about feeling suicidal, relationship issues, or all the…
Beginnings of an Online Crisis Chat Service
On June 29th, the Distress Centres of Dufferin/Wellington, Durham, Peel and Toronto joined together to launch an online crisis chat service. Texting through an unadvertised shortcode based on a service in the US or visiting our website provides access to a trained volunteer responder between 2pm and 2am. After running the service for a few…
Empathy Statements in Helpline Work
Empathy statements are one of the most important elements of the work that you do on a crisis line, a helpline or a suicide hotline. Empathy statements are sentences that incorporate feeling words into them, so that the person you’re speaking to realizes you’re making an effort to understand them. Empathy statements are very useful…