Crisis line has been both useful and harmful for me in the UK... and it's very dependant on the person you get at the other end of the phone. In contrast to voluntary (and less trained) phone lines like Samaritans for example... crisis line is manned by registered nurses who are doing a paid job that they are contracted too... as such, you can get someone who is companionate and passionate about their job... and another who is not so much.

My community psychiatric nurse put it another way: that crisis team members do both house calls and man the phones... as such, there is a split between what they prefer.

Two examples.

1. I call in crisis having been told I am no longer under the crisis team, but I have access to their line as an outpatient... I call the number I have and speak to a really nice woman who talks me down from a moment of irrational stupidity and then tells me that technically I used the wrong number as some of her colleges may have hung up on me: reason? that number is specifically for crisis home treatment... but all phone lines come through to the same office so she gives me the right number to use.

2. I call up having eloped from hospital and thinking I am still registered with the crisis team... I call them as I trust no one at the hospital at that time but my mother has screamed at me down the phone after me finally accepting her call after disconnecting continuously for an hour as I walked into town to purchase implements to commit si. The person at the other end tells me quite bluntly that I have been discharged by the crisis team and I should speak to the hospital as she can't talk to me... was a crazy spiral moment after I hung up chuckling in bemused apathy and determination.

The last example was technically the first example but I wanted to start off with a positive.