When kids need help too — Charlie was 11 the first time he called us and though the counsellor on duty that day told him that there were special helplines for children, and that he might find it more helpful to talk to a them, he declined and continued to call us. Mostly, he seemed to…

The Early Morning Hours Changed The Way I View The World — It’s 5.30am and my feet hit the floor a millisecond after my dog’s. We’re up. He dances around the living room and brings me his stuffed caterpillar, while I try to remember where the hell I put his collar the night before and curse myself for the hundredth time for…

Sometimes we can’t stop the crisis, we can just help someone to hold on — READER DISCRETION ADVISED: VIOLENCE & SUICIDE INTENT Jenny is a regular caller, we all know her and her story. She is also the perfect example of how the service should be viewed – that our clients do not call to talk to a specific person, they call the service. This…

Some shifts are about laughter, loneliness and oddballs…expect the unexpected — It’s Christmas Day, a day that is totally unpredictable and filled with the despair of those feeling anything but jolly and joyous. “Hello, Crisis Ser….” I don’t get any further. “I’m completely bloody blocked and I have no idea what to do. What can I do? …

When the hull has been breached, how do we best spend our time before the ship goes down? — What the actual fuck! These four words, you might say, sum up my current reality and I don’t like it one little bit! I’m going to be 56 this summer and all my life I’ve been a livewire. …

When your brother has one leg over the railway bridge — READER DISCRETION ADVISED – TEENAGE DEPRESSION & SUICIDE INTENT It’s an ordinary Sunday afternoon when the call comes in. …

We do not need a reason to remove an obvious burden from something or someone. — After a day and a night of the heaviest snowfall for several years, the world this morning is a bright and beautiful place and the tourists here in my Austrian village cannot wait to get outside. I walk up my street where the snow is piled so high that the…

His house, his wife, his family, is he about to lose it all…? — The first three calls this evening are hang-ups. In quick succession. This often indicates that the caller is a first time user of our service and either isn’t yet ready or able to talk or doesn’t quite know how to get started. The fourth time there’s a pause, enough time…

After a week of feeling meh, the world feels like a different place — I wake with a jolt, unaware for a second or two where I am and how long I’ve been asleep. Is it day or is it night? …