December 14, 1978 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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December 14, 1978 |
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Crisis Clinic has plenty of listeners
Sick of good advice ? Pick up your phone!
Tom Campbell
"We're not here to talk
him out of anything-
including suicide... ""
noncommittal wheri a
• phone-conveyed crisis may be at
that point where serious
considerations include even the
likes of suicide?
Well, the guidelines are in
fact there - in a massive file
kept by information and referral
coordinator Sara Bassett, who's
been with the clinic since its
inception. But it's not the crisis
intervener's job to volunteer
them unless the troubled caller
has decided himself that it would
be in his best interests.
"Inside we may want to
agree or disagree with the
caller," says Bassett, "but in the
end that wouldn't serve his best
interests. He wouldn't be calling
if he hadn't already talked with
people with opinions -his
family doctor, perhaps, or a
clergyman or even a taxicab
driver or bartender - and found
that those opinions alone didn't
do him any good."
"As long as the person is
able to find someone to tell him
what to do," adds Campbell,
"he'll continue to avoid facing
By STEVE PATCH
Thinking of killing yourself?.
No? Well, perhaps you're not
quite terminally sick of the way
things are - only good and fed
up with all the sage advice
people have for you, along with
their poorly veiled
condescensions of pity because
you obviously aren't smart
enough to see it their way.
In either case, there's
someone waiting at the other
end of phone number 426-3311,
waiting there with the express
purpose of listening.
That's right: listening. Not
preaching that the wrath of God
will be upon you should you
persist in tipping the bottle; not
harping at you with an assistant
professor's persistence that it's
high time you paid the piper;
not loading you up with any
more guilt trips than you already
have.
"That's not our reason for
being," says a voice behind that
voice in your earpiece. "We
don't make value judgments - or
at least we don't express them.
We just believe inherently that
people can solve their own
problems."
The voice is that of Tom
Campbell of Kamilehe, and
Campbell is director of a largely
volunteer work force that for
five years now has been
providing what is known as
"crisis intervention" here in
Mason and Thurston Counties.
Thousands have called upon
the completely confidential
services of the Crisis Clinic this
past year alone, and in each and
every instance the response has
been the same.
"Active listening is the
process we use," says Campbell.
"We try to ask open-ended
questions to encourage the caller
to make his own choices.
"If we make value judgments
ourselves we're not going to help
the person solve his probelms.
We're only going to be
dependent."
Already this year some
16,000 calls have been taken by
the clinic's approximately 50
phone volunteers, who together
keep the lines open 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
Last year at this time, the
total was only about 8,000.
"Are people experiencing
more problems?" asks Campbell.
"I'm not sure. Emotional needs
are as they always have been and
always will be. But economically
people may be having more
problems these days. They're not
always getting their basic needs
met."
At the same time that people
are finding themselves short
financially, Campbell continues,
they are experiencing more and
more pressure to have the things
money can buy. And around
Christmastime, especially, this
translates into greater stress.
"It's an incredible time of
pressure," he says. "To many
people, being able to buy lots of
presents at Christmastime is a
symbol of being a good parent,
so when they come up against
their purely economic inabilities
to do so they feel inadequate."
Sara Bassett
, "'Inside we may want to
agree or disagree with the
caller - but in the end that
wouldn't serve his best
• interests... ""
establishing another one-up
dependency the person hardly making the decision himself. And
has need for." if we at the clinic try to tell him
What? No guidelines at all? what to do we'll only be making
How can a person remain him that much more
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Perhaps not surprisingly, the
clinic experiences an increase in
suicide-related calls along about
tiffs time of the year.
"It's an especially
family-oriented time," notes
Campbell. "And if you don't
have family or friends it can
really make you question the
value of your life."
Although only about two or
three percent of the clinic's calls
involve suicide attempts or even
expressions of active
consideration of suicide, the
subject naturally is a focus of
some attention. In fact,
volunteers often breach the
subject themselves.
"We don't want to give
people the impression that only
very sick people think about
suicide," says Campbell. "In fact,
l'd say a majority of people
experiencing severe depression at
one time or another have
thought about it- whether they
actually considered it within the
realm of possibility or not."
So volunteers usually will ask
directly, "Are you considering
suicide?" And usually the answer
is an immediate yes or no.
"That kind of frankness lets
the caller know that we
encourage exploring the depths
of his feelings,", says Campbell.
"But we're not here to talk him
out of anything, including
suicide - no matter how much
we might be opposed to it.
Society already has provided
enough value judgments in that
regard. We're another alternative,
another option for people to
learn to help themselves."
Campbell says death-wish
discussions have been shown,
too, to have no negative
influences whatsoever. "It's a
myth that talking about suicide
will hasten one's doing it," he
says.
Lest one think the Crisis
Clinic is preoccupied with the
likes of suicide, drug addiction
and severe depression, Campbell
hastens to point out that the
majority of calls are motivated
by less sensational problems.
More common are those
involving rifts between spouses,
child abuse and neglect, alcohol
•
!! i •
;!
and so on.
"In fact," says Campbell,
"it's another real myth that
street drugs constitute the bulk
of addiction problems. In our
area, especially, prescription
drugs are a far greater problem."
In any case, the nature of
the crisis isn't half as important
as the person's perception of it.
"A surprising number of our
callers start out by saying, 'This
isn't a crisis but...' " observes
Campbell. "What we try to
convey is it doesn't necessarily
have to be a crisis for you to call
here. Even if you just need to
sort tlffngs out or have someone
to talk to.
"After all, being bored itself
can be the start of a crisis."
"But we don't want to
support someone in his being
bored," puts in Dot McLaughlin,
coordinator and trainer of
volunteers and the third and
final paid staff member at Crisis
TAKING A CALL in the Crisis Clinic's hideaway -- and the
kept secret in the express interest of maintaining confidential ant
--is one of about 50 volunteers who rotate to keep the vigil 24
day, seven days a week.
Clinic. "We really encourage the
person to explore what he might
be doing instead so he wouldn't
be bored - let him know he
does have a choice."
"Some people merely want
to get some recognition -
someone to feel sorry for them,"
adds Campbell. "To them we
might say something like, 'You
know, it really sounds as though
you're enjoying being bored.' In
that way we shift the
responsibility back to them."
While the clinic's service is
for both Thurston and Mason
Counties equally, only about ten
percent of the calls come from
Mason County. McLaughlin
suggests this may be the result of
more than simply a difference in
population densities.
"There seems to be alcertain
pride among many people in a
rural area - a feeling that
perhaps they don't really need
outside help," she says. "I know
only two years ago, for instance,
a person involved in law
enforcement in Mason County
told me that rape just doesn't
happen there. Of course, we
know that isn't true.
"The point is we have to
learn that pride should never be
"allowed to stand .in the way of
our making life more happy and
healthy."
Another interesting statistic
is that women outnumber men
callers about two to one. It used
to be an even greater disparity,
too.
"Things are changing very
slowly," notes Campbell, "but it
does seem that men are
beginning finally to feel it's okay
to feel weak and helpless and to
cry."
Campbell wishes to make it
abundantly clear that weakness
and dependency need not be
stifling burdens. People can get
healthy. No greater proof, it
seems, can be found t ha
the clinic itself.
"Probably at least a
of our volunteers wet,
callers themselves,"
director. "They are
have gone through
themselves and know
have valuable
share with others."
Campbell encourages
with compassion to
or her services. Not
is allowed to take the
reminds, alluding
importance of
nonjudgmental position.
"But most pe
qualify come to
rewarding," he says.
life is not all
problems. Many of ot]r
are people who are
some of the" stronger
"in their lives.
"I know that's very
to me."
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Page 10 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, December 14, 1978