I'm sad for all the bad experiences that have been expressed. My point of view comes from that of a volunteer. I first took a crisis line training course 35 years ago. We had to take 40 hours of training before answering a call. We were screened before being accepted into the program.

The second program I volunteered for had 50 hours of training. We were all volunteers. We took crisis calls as well as meeting sexual assault victims at the hospital. We went through the whole process with the victim.

These crisis lines were in different parts of the country. I mention it bkz so much has been said about the lack of training. The teams I worked with met every 2 weeks to process the calls. However, if someone needed to talk after a difficult call or a call out someone was always available.

My belief is there are more people helped than harmed by crisis lines. The great majority of callers didn't have therapists. There is no program that is going to be spot on all the time. I am sorry you all had such negative experiences.

Sabra