Andy, thank you for the description of your warm-line. Research has shown that warm-lines and other peer-operated crisis alternatives can be very effective, so you are to be commended for developing this program. A few resources that may be helpful to you include:
http://buzz.freeshell.org/wlines/ This website lists other consumer-operated warm lines around the country, and resources for developing & operating those lines.
Andy, I certainly appreciate the work you are doing and I applaud your mindset of crisis prevention as opposed to crisis intervention. I'm curious about a couple of things: Do you know what percentage of the people using the warm-line are young adults? I'd also like to know if you have a plan in place to do outreach to young people. There have been numerous times, as a young person with bipolar disorder, I've wished there was a line I could call and talk to a peer who maybe was dealing with similar issues or was at least willing to listen. There have been times when I felt guilty calling a crisis hotline when I was not an immediate danger to myself or others. In absence of that I tried to lean on community support groups, but obviously those are less accessible than a warm-line. I'd love to know the diversity in age among the trained operators. I've found that, at least in support groups, most of the members are at least 20 to 40 years my senior and that limited the effectiveness of the group and how well we could relate to each others struggles. Experiencing depression in high school or mania in the midst of a college quad is much different from losing your house because of reckless manic spending. All that being said: Keep up the work you are doing! It is tremendously important! - Marc Peters, Active Minds, Inc.
Thanks for your feedback! Our organization currently serves people ages 18 and older. Our warm-line takes most of its calls from anonymous callers and therefore I don't know what percentage would be young adults. However, your plan to do more outreach to young adults is a very good one. We are hoping to find some funding to enhance our service, including an enhancement of our marketing. Perhaps we could advertise at high schools and colleges in our area to reach a young audience. Again, thanks for the valuable comments!
I have checked your site and I invite others please check it because the information that is available in your site can spell bound any one.and the images that you have shown in this site also very attractive. There is one more site that I have visited, provide me information that is really unique and the service that they offer also I have experienced mcse, really I enjoy this service so I request others please visit this and I want to tell you that after enjoying this service you’ll enjoy it again and again its .
Steven, thanks for your feedback. These resources are great. I will share with others at my organization. Best Regards, Andy Germak, http://www.mhamorris.org.
I loved reading about your idea. Research shows that peer support can be quite effective in helping people cope with stress and mental illness. I think it's great that you recognize that many people are often in need of support who may have nowhere to turn other than an ER or a hotline -- you have provided a resource specifically for them that didn't otherwise exist. I'm a big fan of the fact that you use people in recovery as the operators, which I'm sure helps them in their recovery as well. Everyone benefits!
I'm wondering whether you have a plan in place to follow up with the people who call in. Do you check in on them later? Or do you assume that they will call back if they need you again?
It's great that you send out a survey to get feedback on how people who use your service feel about it. This is important data for you to use in obtaining the grants you need to expand the program. Aside from consumer satisfaction, is it possible for you to also take a look at whether your peer support line prevents crises down the road or reduces the need for your clients to access more expensive interventions that people often avoid (medication, psychiatry, etc.)? Have you had discussions with local providers (emergency departments for example) who could attest to your warm line's positive impact on the community and reduction of the need to use services that are better left for full-on crisis situations?
Also, I wanted to say I enjoyed reading about the other neat programs your organization has for people who are mentally ill, like the Cooking Club. You seem to be a very innovative group!
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments!! I oversee this program at the Mental Health Association of Morris County. Due to the nature of the support line being anonymous we do not check in with callers to assess how they have been helped. However yearly we do satisfaction surveys for both our providers of the service and the recipients. For the recipients we ask them to rate their satisfaction with the level of support and resources that are provided as well as how long they have been calling the line and how often. On this survey we also have a question that asked if they utilized the Peer Line instead of calling Psychiatric Emergency Services and was it helpful. Every year we have reported anywhere from 90%-100% that we are meeting callers needs who thought about calling the crisis centers. Most of the callers that access our line are regulars and use the line between one to two times a week or nightly.
We also have relationships with the local emergency services so they refer callers to our line who are not appropriate for a hotline call. As you also mentioned people who work the support line are helped tremendously in their recovery as well. Many of our workers never dreamed of getting back to work or being a support to others in their situation. It has given them a chance to give back.
As the President of the Board of the Mental Health Association of Morris County, I know this to be a wonderful and effective program. As others have pointed out, it serves the needs of both the callers and the operators. Most who call are not in crisis, but need someone to talk to, who understands what they are feeling. Perhaps many would end up in crisis if they did not have this kind of support. For the operators, it is a chance to reach out and share what they have experienced, in a way that helps others. In addition, it provides them with the training to become employed in a meaningful way. Having had a brother with schizophrenia, who used me as his "warm line", I know first-hand the importance of hearing that caring voice on the other end of the line.
Great entry Andy - "warm line", "empathic listening training", I'm a fan! Just out of curiosity, have you ever considered setting up a Skype line for Peer-to-Peer Support? May be a low cost way to provide support to a broader audience. Best of luck!
Sarah, what a great idea! Our goal is to expand our support line first locally/regionally and then we will have the capacity to expand to other areas. You are right - the warm line is a very low-cost way to provide support services.
I think that expanding the warm line to accommodate more callers is a great idea. Getting a busy signal just shows how popular the warm line is at this point. More hours and more lines are a good way to make the service available to more people.
Yes, Melanie, busy signals do show how popular the line is but we are trying to expand so we can eliminate the busy signal. Thanks for your comment! -Andy
Great idea to post this innovative and creative program. What a great opportunity this is to expand awareness of peer supported actions as an effective way to assist people who are struggling and in need of someone who can listen and understand their struggles.
This is a solid model and the peer-to-peer element is really great. The transition to employable skills is extremely useful, and it’s wonderful that this is helping people with mental illnesses take action! Would you mind providing some more information on how you work through the existing infrastructure and then scale? Is this initiative integrated into other programs? Is it preventative? Also, what is the expected cost to maintain this initiative? We would also love to hear more about the volunteer experience, so would you mind providing a profile of a volunteer? Great entry!
Naveen, thank you for your comments. Our peer-to-peer line is a low-cost solution for providing non-crisis intervention which often diverts people from using more costly psychiatric emergency services. I believe that this project is very scalable because there is not much infrastructure to work through. Our operators receive calls in their homes. Therefore there is little overhead cost. Our volunteers are consumers of mental health services that want to "give back" by working as operators on the phone line. After a successful period of working in this capacity, many of our volunteers move on to outside employment. If you would like more specific information on our program, feel free to give me a call at 1-973-334-3496. Again, thanks for your feedback!
Comments
Andy, thank you for the description of your warm-line. Research has shown that warm-lines and other peer-operated crisis alternatives can be very effective, so you are to be commended for developing this program. A few resources that may be helpful to you include:
Andy, I certainly appreciate the work you are doing and I applaud your mindset of crisis prevention as opposed to crisis intervention. I'm curious about a couple of things: Do you know what percentage of the people using the warm-line are young adults? I'd also like to know if you have a plan in place to do outreach to young people. There have been numerous times, as a young person with bipolar disorder, I've wished there was a line I could call and talk to a peer who maybe was dealing with similar issues or was at least willing to listen. There have been times when I felt guilty calling a crisis hotline when I was not an immediate danger to myself or others. In absence of that I tried to lean on community support groups, but obviously those are less accessible than a warm-line. I'd love to know the diversity in age among the trained operators. I've found that, at least in support groups, most of the members are at least 20 to 40 years my senior and that limited the effectiveness of the group and how well we could relate to each others struggles. Experiencing depression in high school or mania in the midst of a college quad is much different from losing your house because of reckless manic spending. All that being said: Keep up the work you are doing! It is tremendously important! - Marc Peters, Active Minds, Inc.
Hi Marc,
Thanks for your feedback! Our organization currently serves people ages 18 and older. Our warm-line takes most of its calls from anonymous callers and therefore I don't know what percentage would be young adults. However, your plan to do more outreach to young adults is a very good one. We are hoping to find some funding to enhance our service, including an enhancement of our marketing. Perhaps we could advertise at high schools and colleges in our area to reach a young audience. Again, thanks for the valuable comments!
Andy Germak, http://www.mhamorris.org
I have checked your site and I invite others please check it because the information that is available in your site can spell bound any one.and the images that you have shown in this site also very attractive. There is one more site that I have visited, provide me information that is really unique and the service that they offer also I have experienced mcse, really I enjoy this service so I request others please visit this and I want to tell you that after enjoying this service you’ll enjoy it again and again its .
Steven, thanks for your feedback. These resources are great. I will share with others at my organization. Best Regards, Andy Germak, http://www.mhamorris.org.
I loved reading about your idea. Research shows that peer support can be quite effective in helping people cope with stress and mental illness. I think it's great that you recognize that many people are often in need of support who may have nowhere to turn other than an ER or a hotline -- you have provided a resource specifically for them that didn't otherwise exist. I'm a big fan of the fact that you use people in recovery as the operators, which I'm sure helps them in their recovery as well. Everyone benefits!
I'm wondering whether you have a plan in place to follow up with the people who call in. Do you check in on them later? Or do you assume that they will call back if they need you again?
It's great that you send out a survey to get feedback on how people who use your service feel about it. This is important data for you to use in obtaining the grants you need to expand the program. Aside from consumer satisfaction, is it possible for you to also take a look at whether your peer support line prevents crises down the road or reduces the need for your clients to access more expensive interventions that people often avoid (medication, psychiatry, etc.)? Have you had discussions with local providers (emergency departments for example) who could attest to your warm line's positive impact on the community and reduction of the need to use services that are better left for full-on crisis situations?
Also, I wanted to say I enjoyed reading about the other neat programs your organization has for people who are mentally ill, like the Cooking Club. You seem to be a very innovative group!
-- Katherine Stone, Postpartum Progress, http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com
Katherine,
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments!! I oversee this program at the Mental Health Association of Morris County. Due to the nature of the support line being anonymous we do not check in with callers to assess how they have been helped. However yearly we do satisfaction surveys for both our providers of the service and the recipients. For the recipients we ask them to rate their satisfaction with the level of support and resources that are provided as well as how long they have been calling the line and how often. On this survey we also have a question that asked if they utilized the Peer Line instead of calling Psychiatric Emergency Services and was it helpful. Every year we have reported anywhere from 90%-100% that we are meeting callers needs who thought about calling the crisis centers. Most of the callers that access our line are regulars and use the line between one to two times a week or nightly.
We also have relationships with the local emergency services so they refer callers to our line who are not appropriate for a hotline call. As you also mentioned people who work the support line are helped tremendously in their recovery as well. Many of our workers never dreamed of getting back to work or being a support to others in their situation. It has given them a chance to give back.
Christa
As the President of the Board of the Mental Health Association of Morris County, I know this to be a wonderful and effective program. As others have pointed out, it serves the needs of both the callers and the operators. Most who call are not in crisis, but need someone to talk to, who understands what they are feeling. Perhaps many would end up in crisis if they did not have this kind of support. For the operators, it is a chance to reach out and share what they have experienced, in a way that helps others. In addition, it provides them with the training to become employed in a meaningful way. Having had a brother with schizophrenia, who used me as his "warm line", I know first-hand the importance of hearing that caring voice on the other end of the line.
Great entry Andy - "warm line", "empathic listening training", I'm a fan! Just out of curiosity, have you ever considered setting up a Skype line for Peer-to-Peer Support? May be a low cost way to provide support to a broader audience. Best of luck!
Sarah, what a great idea! Our goal is to expand our support line first locally/regionally and then we will have the capacity to expand to other areas. You are right - the warm line is a very low-cost way to provide support services.
I think that expanding the warm line to accommodate more callers is a great idea. Getting a busy signal just shows how popular the warm line is at this point. More hours and more lines are a good way to make the service available to more people.
Yes, Melanie, busy signals do show how popular the line is but we are trying to expand so we can eliminate the busy signal. Thanks for your comment! -Andy
Great idea to post this innovative and creative program. What a great opportunity this is to expand awareness of peer supported actions as an effective way to assist people who are struggling and in need of someone who can listen and understand their struggles.
Michelle, I couldn't agree more. Thanks for the feedback! -Andy
This is a solid model and the peer-to-peer element is really great. The transition to employable skills is extremely useful, and it’s wonderful that this is helping people with mental illnesses take action! Would you mind providing some more information on how you work through the existing infrastructure and then scale? Is this initiative integrated into other programs? Is it preventative? Also, what is the expected cost to maintain this initiative? We would also love to hear more about the volunteer experience, so would you mind providing a profile of a volunteer? Great entry!
- Naveen Shakir, Ashoka’s Changemakers
Naveen, thank you for your comments. Our peer-to-peer line is a low-cost solution for providing non-crisis intervention which often diverts people from using more costly psychiatric emergency services. I believe that this project is very scalable because there is not much infrastructure to work through. Our operators receive calls in their homes. Therefore there is little overhead cost. Our volunteers are consumers of mental health services that want to "give back" by working as operators on the phone line. After a successful period of working in this capacity, many of our volunteers move on to outside employment. If you would like more specific information on our program, feel free to give me a call at 1-973-334-3496. Again, thanks for your feedback!