The policy is generally that anything you say will be kept confidential within the hotline. The only circumstances in which crisis hotlines break confidentiality is if they have reasons to suspect that you or someone else may be in imminent danger or harm or if they suspect that a child or elderly person may be abused. If they do contact the relevant agencies because you are suicidal, typically someone might show up and do a wellness check on you. It wouldn't be sirens and such. And crisis hotlines have different ways of tracing your number. They can't always successfully trace all calls. Even then, there is no guarantee that the hotline or police would be able to track down your physical address. Hope this helps.

Crisis hotlines are typically staffed by volunteers who are trained for the role as liners. Their skills would vary depending on their natural abilities and their ability to use the skills that they were trained in. But the basics would be active listening, empathy, motivational interviewing, suicidality assessment, and grounding and self-harm reduction techniques. Then again, each counselor is different. Some have excellent skills while others simply don't have what it takes for the position.