Submitted by Howie & Marie Field.
Nathaniel B. Field Memorial Foundation, Inc. Vice President, Christiana Field, was a speaker at the Annual Forum on Suicide Prevention and Mental Health held at East Lyme High School on September 30, 2019. The event, sponsored by the Brian Dagle Foundation, hosted a panel of speakers who provided insight, education, and inspiration on the issues surrounding mental health and suicide awareness. Christiana shared her personal journey since the loss of her brother Nathaniel to suicide in 2015. In addition, Christiana provided an overview of the Crisis Text Line, and discussed her active role as a volunteer. After 6-weeks of intensive training she began working on text conversations. “The goal of any conversation is to move texters from a hot moment to a calm, safe place. Sometimes that means walking a texter though a grounding exercise, providing a referral for further help, and sometimes it just means being there and listening. I’ve typically found that the majority of my conversations last between 45 minutes and one hour. During the conversation, you move through 5 stages: In stage 1 you build rapport through good contact techniques like active listening and reflective language. In stage 2 you explore the issue at hand. It is during this stage that you conduct the ladder-up risk assessment, which involves 4 steps to assess if a texter is at imminent risk of suicide (desire, plan, means, timeframe). In stage 3 you work to identify the texters main goal, and in Stage 4 you work together to collaboratively problem-solve. Finally, you work to wrap up the conversation with a warm close.”
On September 6th, the Crisis Text Line achieved an incredible milestone of 5,026 active Crisis Counselors in the past 28 days! This is a great indicator of how the organization is growing and allows the platform to reach even more texters in crisis. During that time, counselors handled 83,252 conversations.
According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among college students ages 18-24. It’s important that people know they have someone to reach out to 24/7! Currently, only 6.4% of texters learn about Crisis Text Line at school (through their school counselor, posters, in health class, or a supportive teacher). That’s why we’re partnering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to support the bi-partisan Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act (H.R. 3912 / S. 1782). The Crisis Text number in the United States is 741741.
Photo by Carole Drong.
