one thing i will add is that, having worked on crisis lines myself, there are many people out there who are more than willing to really listen & read between the lines of what a client may or may not be saying, who try to practice therapy without letting their frustration cloud the desire for this client to see improvement.

i am sad on your behalf, amandalouise. if one of my friends confided in me what you have been saying, (imo rather inappropriately to a forum populated by clients), then i would strongly suggest to my friend that they seek supervision and guidance on how to work through the frustration. i am upset that it seems like you have so many competing demands that you've somehow managed to convince yourself it's "ok" to work with certain clients in certain situations over others. i DO hope you'll talk this over with your supervisor - i'm assuming you have one as you mentioned you are an intern and thus not a fully qualified, experienced and mature therapist as yet.

i am not saying i am any better or worse because i've also "been there, done that". i only worked at the crisis line for a little over a year before i burnt out and needed to step away for my own sanity as well as for those people who required the line's services. yeah, it feels good to know you have helped someone step away from suicide, got a guy in the grips of florrid psychosis a hospital bed, help a child caught in a paedophile ring find the strength to tell someone and stand by him. of course results - fast and easy - feel good.

but there was this one guy - we all knew about him, were told about him on the first day of the job - he would call up at least 2-3times each week and had been doing so for the past 6 years. usually just to shoot the breeze, sometimes because he wanted to vent, but almost never to actually report that he'd followed through on any of the suggestions of the previous call. he was a regular on my shift, and i do admit there were occassions when i switched off (he liked to talk about railway systems around the world). but one day he called in from the pub - after 6years of having the counsellors not reject him - he'd finally found the strength to get into his wheelchair and go to the pub on the corner of the street and talk to two other guys there because maybe they wouldn't reject him also. he got the other two guys to say hi to me on the phone, and as i teared up i only then realised how important this guy's struggles were to me and how massive this was - how much more commitment he'd needed to make this small step than many of the other people (in more 'pressing' crisis situations) i'd dealt with. he promised to call back again later in the week, and he's probably still calling that line every week, but he's making small improvements. we all had a morning tea at work to celebrate when i got to spread the news.

now, i understand you may not have the same crisis set up i was blessed to work with - where we dont turn people away because they aren't making improvements - but it does concern me that this situation seems to have shaped your attitudes towards who is more worthy of help. there is a HUGE difference between a service not being able to provide certain services, and a therapist rolling their eyes because their current client has "less important" issues than the therapist thinks they should be working with.

again, i'd suggest talking to your supervisor. but as an intermediate step i also wonder if you might not benefit from practising more mindfulness so perhaps you can truly help the client in front of you and not all the hypotheticals competing for your time elsewhere.

edit: also there is a private social group for therapists/helping professions on PC - maybe you could post there if you don't want to bring this up with a supervisor yet. you can pm me & i'll figure out how to get you an invite so you can join if you aren't a member already.