What is a Warmline?
In an article, released a few weeks back, USA Today tackled a topic I hadn’t learned about. For a while now companies, groups, organizations have set-up hotlines to help those in crisis or with an emergent set of needs. Well this article starts a conversation about a warmline. The warmline was created “to provide early intervention with emotional support that can prevent crisis.” Paraphrased the warmline is there to to help before the need of a hotline presents itself.
That’s actually an awesome idea!
Have you ever heard of a warmline? Or have I been living under a rock because I’ve never heard of it before.
What do you think of this idea?
How long have these warmlines existed?
Which companies are advocates for warmlines?
So many questions! Who ever came up with this concept THANK YOU! That’s called taking an idea to the next level. The San Francisco Peer Warm Line was created in 2014 and it seems other states have joined in their efforts. Warmlines are free interventions being worked by volunteers or employees with experience working with mental health. Per the article many users of the warmlines are “repeaters” which means they’ve called the line multiple times. As I’m typing I can think of so many times I’ve felt alone & “not right.” For some reason I couldn’t climb over my sadness. How nice would it have been to know there was a line I could call. I wasn’t in the middle of a crisis but I could have used someone helping me not allow my thoughts to spiral. It’s support. Support that I didn’t feel I had.
Now I will say, I think I might have struggled to call a stranger for support. But after getting help for depression I believe I would’ve be more open to the idea. At times it’s not about who the support is coming from but more about the fact that support is present.
So where is the downside? Is it the cost of the lines and possibly office space? The article tackles this as well stating that while these lines have costs they are far less than the cost of dialing 9-1-1 or a trip to the emergency room, both, the warmline is trying to prevent. Right now many of these programs are state funded
As I’m typing, warmlines feel like prayer lines. I know this might not be popular but there was a time when churches had volunteers waiting by the phone to pray with those in need. Now warmlines are specifically for those needing support for their mental health but some time ago the church had something similar. We had lines for prayer but once the prayer was complete we typically ended the conversation. Now, those that really enjoyed helping may have tried to act as support but that was not the focus. The question I’m now asking: What if the focus of the prayer line included support for mental health? What would that look like? Is that an avenue we can explore as believers? How would we train volunteers?
I think I’m going to check to see if warmlines are offered in my area. I’m interested to know what it takes to become a volunteer. I wouldn’t mind helping, if possible. I imagine during the holiday season things would be a bit busier. After searching for warmlines in my area I’ve found warmlines for parental support as well, typically for those parents that have children with special needs. Only being aware of a small percent of the challenges special needs parents experience I believe a warmline would be of great value.
The article did state that support for warmlines may not take over as quickly as some would like due to how difficult it is to quantify results. Given their goals I imagine it’s hard to say if you’ve prevented a trip to an ER or possible suicide. Most of the time those calling in aren’t in crisis. Therefore how do you quantify a successful call and even more how successful are the lines are overall? It would be interesting to see how these metrics are being measured and the success of the program.
#thoughtlifeco
