Who calls a hotline?  Maybe a better question is who doesn’t? Those phone numbers have offered advice, comfort, resources and a willing ear to untold numbers of callers for decades. Turns out a lot of people call or chat with these help numbers but what do they really offer and who exactly uses them?  And do they really help?

Rena Fitzgerald is the Senior Program Manager for Crisis Services at Volunteers of America of Western Washington, and she’s been doing crisis intervention for 15 years. She knows who calls, and why. She also knows who answers the phone, the training they have and the reason they do it. For an inside look at crisis help lines, suicide prevention hot lines, domestic violence hot lines, and all the other free crisis intervention services out there, join us as we first air this discussion about crisis phone and chat help lines.