Continuing my Training

 This month, I focused on finishing my Crisis Text Line training. I really enjoyed this training because I feel like I’ve learned a lot about how to effectively communicate with people who are in a crisis – and especially people whom I don’t know. It’s both crazy and extremely rewarding to me to be able to talk with and help someone who is going through a mental health emergency, and have the power to bring this person back up. I’ve of course talked to my friends through their own issues and drama, but it’s completely different to talk to someone I’ve never met and learn about their unique struggle. I also feel like I have a much better understanding of concepts such as inclusivity and diversity, because much of the training has focused on making sure we as texters do not make assumptions or hold biases while talking to textees. For example, in one exercise, we read the first few lines of an example text conversation in which the textee’s name was Juan and he was 17 years old. We were asked to list some assumptions that we might make based on the beginning of this conversation: maybe he is hispanic, maybe he speaks Spanish, maybe family is very important to him, maybe he has a lot of siblings, etc. This exercise was really interesting to me because I always thought of myself as very open minded and non-biased, but it brought to light some hidden stereotypes/biases that I didn’t realize I had. We also learned not to assume a textee’s sexuality because of them mentioning a boyfriend a girlfriend – just because someone has a boyfriend, that doesn’t automatically mean that the textee must be a girl.

It was also really enlightening to learn about the importance of word choice when talking to textees: for example, we were taught to say things such as “you must be devastated” instead of “you must be really sad” because using stronger words makes the textee feel more comfortable sharing the strong emotions and feelings that they are experiencing. Using more dramatic words ensures that we as texters do not accidentally downplay textees’ emotions. I found myself wanting to use words such as “upset” or “scared,” but learned to use alternatives such as “abandoned,” “disconnected,” and “terrified.” We also learned to ask almost exclusively open-ended questions so that the textee can better explain their feelings and situation, and not to ask too many questions consecutively to make sure the textee doesn’t feel interrogated. There were so many little details like these that I felt really made a difference in the tone of the conversation.

Lastly, we learned the overall structure of how a conversation should go. First, we as texters give a warm introduction such as, “Hi there, I’m Rosie and I’m here to listen. Can you tell me what’s going on today?” We listen to and validate the textee’s feelings and situation, making sure to use strong words and paraphrase back their concerns. Once we get a sense of their situation, our job is to help the textee find something to do that could make them feel better, like going for a walk, listening to music, eating something, etc. We obviously cannot tell them what to do, but we help them brainstorm a way to start feeling better. Usually the textee feels better after talking and getting their feelings off of their chest. Then, once the textee is feeling better, we can close the conversation. Overall I feel as though I’ve become a much better listener and become better at just listening, as opposed to jumping to offer advice or over-validating someone’s feelings.

Total: 5 hours