Please call.

I've called them a lot. The first time I called I was in really bad shape, the guy on the phone was very nice, he urged me to go to the hospital but didn't force the issue, he let me decide. Then he asked me for the name and number of a friend that I trusted, and he called them to have them come over to take me to the hospital.

The times I've called when I wasn't feeling like I needed a hosptal stay, they were still very nice to talk to. They are trained to listen and offer suggestions. You don't have to give them your name if you don't want to. Sometimes they've had me take a "survey" about how I am feeling, it seems to me the point of the survey is three things... to give them an idea how we are, to give US an idea of how we are as we think about and answer the questions, and to give us something to converse about on the phone. Most times we feel better just for talking to someone.

Sometimes they have offered suggestions like volunteering at an animal shelter, after I was talking about my difficulty getting out of the house but not feeling able to work again. She looked up some numbers of local shelters for me.

Mostly it is just good to talk, and also if you know you need some serious help but can't seem to ask for it, they can help you. When things aren't as bad as that they offer an ear and some conversation. You don't have to wait until you feel suicidal to call. Their called suicide hotlines, but their purpose it to prevent suicide, so they encourage you to call before things get so bad that you need help desparately.

If you ever feel bad and want to call a hotline, but aren't sure whether you feel seriously bad enough to call or not, then you should definitely call. I believe the criteria that makes calling the "correct" action is not how bad you feel, but rather just having the thought of whether you should call or not is a sign that it is time to make that call.

Please let us know how you are doing.

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--http://www.idexter.com