National Suicide Hotline Inundated by Economically Distressed

Aug. 7, 2009— -- In yet another sign of the emotional impact the recession is having on everyday Americans, the government on Thursday announced a cash infusion aimed at dozens of crisis call centers that operate as part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which has in the past several months reported record increases in distress calls.

In July alone, the nationwide Lifeline network of 140 local call centers answered 57,000 calls -- more than it's ever received in one single month. Roughly a quarter of those calls were directly related to economic distress, including unemployment, home foreclosure and personal debt, according to Lifeline spokeswoman Lidia Bernik.

"If these economic trends continue, call volume will continue to increase," she said. "The economic crisis is a problem for a lot of American crisis centers, and we simply need more funding."

The influx of calls has left many centers short-staffed and unable to handle the increased extra work.

In response to the shortfall, on Thursday the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced a $1 million infusion of funds to help the crisis hotline meet the increased demand.

"It's been a struggle for us to recruit and train additional staff, pay the additional overnight crisis workers," said Marshall Ellis, director of development for Virginia-based CrisisLink, one of the centers participating in the Lifeline. "The additional funding that this entails would be a great help to us."

Ellis says the number of calls at his center spiked 140 percent in October 2008, just as the economic and home foreclosure tidal wave was sweeping the country.

"It's been a constant year-over-year increase every month since the start of the recession," he said.

Inside Crisis Link's third floor Arlington, Va., office suite, volunteers -- so-called "listeners" -- sit in cubicles taking notes as distressed callers divulge their woes. The center averages 90 calls per day.

"So you just wanted to escape from everything, and you felt that was the only way to do it?" asks one volunteer of a caller. "And you said you've been drinking a lot of wine today?"

On another line, a volunteer gives a pep talk for persevering in tough times: "So in the past you said you've tried therapy, and what you've realized is that you really need to change your attitude about the situation."

Laura Renenger, a call volunteer at CrisisLink for the past year-and-a-half, says centers like hers provide a valuable social service that's often overlooked because tracking "success rates" can be difficult.

"We always hope that when the call ends they chose to move forward with life rather than not," she said. "But ultimately, we don't always know as listeners. That can be extremely draining on us, not knowing what decision was made after we end the calls."