Tag Archives: Crisis Hotlines

Posts about crisis hotlines, psychology, etc.

  • Hotline Memes 2017 May 24
    Jennifer Battle asked the National Association of Crisis Organization Directors’ mailing list for some uplifting hotline memes to use in training, since there didn’t seem to be that many available. Here are my first responses. (please feel free to use these if you like)  
  • Six Thinking Hats at the Hotline 2015 February 25
    How well do you think? I’m not talking about your intelligence—I’m asking about how you use it. Are you getting the most out of it? How can you tell?
  • Grief In The Dark Time Of The Year 2014 December 21
    We need to honor darkness and sit with grief before the night fires of our winter traditions can warm us.
  • When You Call a Suicide Hotline 2014 November 02
    Here’s what happens when you call a suicide hotline. It’s not what you might think.
  • Witnessing (Our Own) Pain 2014 October 24
    Sometimes all we can do with pain is to witness it, to honor the struggle and stay present. This applies to callers—and to us.
  • Nix the Just 2014 October 23
    The word “just” is perilous for good communication because it’s so often a stalking horse for disrespecting and minimizing others’ experiences.
  • Social Media Guide for #crisisdir14: How to Participate 2014 October 21
    How to participate in social media for the 2014 NASCOD/CUSA crisis hotline directors’ conference. Official schedule, hashtags, guidelines.
  • If You Ask Me Why I’m Sometimes Depressed 2014 October 14
    Why do we expect people to know why they’re feeling depressed?
  • Using Twitter At Work: Basic Concepts 2014 October 12
    Quick-start guide for understanding Twitter, using it for work, and participating in professional networking chats in real time.
  • Using Twitter At Work: How to Get Started 2014 October 12
    Quick-start guide for setting up Twitter for professional networking and edchats.
  • Waiting to Talk Isn’t Listening 2014 October 11
    Listening is more than just leaving space for the other person to talk.
  • The Protocol For Help 2014 October 08
    Five simple questions you should answer before trying to help others.
  • Checking In On Student Understanding With Thumbs 2014 October 03
    I use thumbs-up, thumbs-down, and thumb-sideways signals when checking in with students. It gives me fast, confidential, no-tech formative assessment.
  • Involuntary Hospitalization and Mental Health 2014 September 17
    Ever wondered how people get hospitalized for suicidal or homicidal thoughts in NY? Give me ten minutes and I’ll explain it to you. (video + infographic)
  • Listening Isn’t About Giving Advice 2014 September 14
    Listening is about taking in, about receiving another person’s story. Advising is about putting forth, about dispensing your own thoughts.
  • Ten Years of Progress on Suicide Prevention 2014 September 07
    I’ve spent the last 10 years working in suicide prevention. Here are my thoughts on what we’re doing well, and what we should spend the next 10 years doing.
  • Talking about Lived Experience 2014 September 02
    People with lived experience need to be respected and heard. Here’s a framework for how to listen respectfully and learn from their lived experience.
  • Shaming Our Allies in Suicide Prevention 2014 August 31
    Suicide prevention rests on a foundation of community support. Let’s make sure we don’t accidentally alienate our allies in talking about Robin Williams.
  • Why you shouldn’t share videos of suicide death 2014 August 19
    Sharing videos and images of suicide is dangerous. Let’s talk about why, and talk about what we can do instead to prevent harm and promote healing.
  • Melting and Metamorphosis 2014 August 17
    A meditation on how and why we change, what holds us back, and what we can do about it.
  • How to ask about suicide 2014 August 13
    How to ask friends and family about suicide and feel more comfortable starting the conversation. You can do this.
  • Why you shouldn’t say “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem” 2014 August 12
    It’s not useful to say “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem”. Here’s why, and here’s what to say instead.
  • Talking about suicide and Robin Williams’s death 2014 August 11
    Brief guide to talking about suicide and Robin Williams so we prevent harm to other vulnerable people.
  • Preparing for Work 2014 June 13
    Many traditions talk about approaching your work with focus and care. Here’s why preparing is important and how to do it well for any kind of work.
  • Suicide-related Terminology 2014 June 05
    This is a glossary and usage guide for talking about suicide. We use a lot of specialized terms in the suicide prevention field, and I want to make sure you know what we’re talking about.
  • How to Survive an Ice Storm 2013 December 21
    Quick guidelines for how to get through an ice storm safely.
  • Reachout Training Re-Design: Early Results 2013 November 21
    Early results from the total overhaul of Reachout’s training program in 2013. Check out how things look!
  • Compassion and the Little Prince 2013 November 19
    What can we learn about crisis work from the Little Prince and a retired counselor from Mississippi? We can learn how compassion and love connect in crisis.
  • Pathologizing Language 2013 November 06
    Pathologizing Language Most of you have seen the video about the Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger, with narration by Randall, somewhere in your travels around the internet. I delight in using the honey badgers to teach about crisis hotlines; we’re using the honey badger in our initial training to talk about inappropriate sexual callers, frequent callers, the ...
  • Fears In A Hat: A Facilitator’s Guide 2013 October 28
    Fears in a Hat: A Facilitator’s Guide by Hollis Easter, (c) October 2013 Fears In A Hat is a good introductory team-building and group process exercise that gets people focused on good listening, encourages them to share vulnerability and build trust, promotes empathy for callers, and starts the process of forming groups and high-performing teams. It takes ...
  • Start With The Feelings: A Guide for Helping People 2013 October 24
    Good customer service involves helping people to talk about feelings, not just facts, before solving problems. Here’s how and why to do it.
  • Hotline Directors’ Reading List 2013 October 22
    Curated reading list of resources for people who direct crisis hotlines, call centers, and crisis programs.
  • Getting Their Best: Performance Improvement at Crisis Centers (NASCOD 2013) 2013 October 18
    Getting Their Best Performance improvement at crisis centers Workshop by Hollis Easter National Association of Crisis Center Directors annual conference Rochester NY, 2013 October 19 PowerPoint slides PDF of PowerPoint slides: NASCOD2013-GettingTheirBest Links Finding the perfect balance: how much multimedia is best? https://www.holliseaster.com/talks/2010/MMBalance/ Involuntary hospitalization: www.reachouthotline.org/assets/invol/ Strength in numbers: https://www.holliseaster.com/talks/2010/AIRS/ Workshop objectives Participants will learn: How to look at performance problems, assess gaps, find causes, and ...
  • Humble, humility, humiliated… a meditation on words 2013 October 17
    (I’m in Rochester, NY for the annual conference of the National Association of Crisis Center Directors and Contact USA, and I often draw or make lists during workshops, which often helps me dispense with the distraction of whatever thought has arisen, letting me get back to the workshop’s content.) This thought came to me today: What’s ...
  • The Grief Closet 2013 October 17
    When people postpone grief, it’s like shoving all the pain into a Grief Closet and pledging to deal with it later. Postpone it too long and trouble starts.
  • The Pillar Metaphor 2013 September 21
    The Pillar Metaphor is a lens for seeing resilience and strain in crisis work. In the crisis hotline world, we often see people struggling but don’t understand why, and we often forget the ways that chronic conditions and life events sap a person’s strength to the point where even small problems can knock them down. ...