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Has anyone tried these mental health lines?

DigbyDevon

Good morning everyone,

Last night I had a bit of a wobble about a long standing mental health condition and texted the "SHOUT" service. I did not get anyone on the line and gave up after 45 minutes. Looking on Reddit, it seems a lot of other people either did not get through in good time or when they did were left feeling it did not help. 

I am aware these lines are busy, esp on a sunday morning and don't always have the team behind them at such hours, but I was wondering has anyone tried any other lines? 

I tried SHOUT as it was text based and I did not want to be on the phone in a family house at 3am. It seems the other text based services seem to be for teenagers or children because apparently adults can just speak openly about their mental health on the phone in the middle of the night? 

Just to be clear to prevent confusion, I am NOT suicidal but just felt very low last night.

Many thanks for reading. 

Parents
  • DigbyDevon said:
    Just to be clear to prevent confusion, I am NOT suicidal but just felt very low last night

    I appreciate the clarification and wish to state that you have every right to use those services even without being suicidal. It is a commonly held belief among us with depression that those services are for “others worse off than me,” but there’s a point where even if you don’t imminently plan to hurt yourself or others you could still need help.

    I’m in the States, so I used 988 when I made a serious plan while at work. I sat in my car during my lunch break and was immediately connected with a woman who listened to my plan and helped figure out a way to make the plan less convenient. I don’t know how likely it would have been for me to attempt if I didn’t connect and I’m very glad I didn’t pull through because - among a ton of other horrible things - I would have caused an incredible amount of trauma for a certain worker who would have been the only one able to intervene. Not to mention my dad worked in the same building for a different shift, so that probably would have added an extra layer of disturbance to his life, too.

    While I was lucky to get in touch with someone via 988 quickly enough to fit in my lunch break, she did promise a follow up call in a couple days that never happened. I suppose I didn’t really need it (I mean, I’m still here, apparently), but it’s always made me worried that someone that actually does need a follow up might not get one.

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  • DigbyDevon said:
    Just to be clear to prevent confusion, I am NOT suicidal but just felt very low last night

    I appreciate the clarification and wish to state that you have every right to use those services even without being suicidal. It is a commonly held belief among us with depression that those services are for “others worse off than me,” but there’s a point where even if you don’t imminently plan to hurt yourself or others you could still need help.

    I’m in the States, so I used 988 when I made a serious plan while at work. I sat in my car during my lunch break and was immediately connected with a woman who listened to my plan and helped figure out a way to make the plan less convenient. I don’t know how likely it would have been for me to attempt if I didn’t connect and I’m very glad I didn’t pull through because - among a ton of other horrible things - I would have caused an incredible amount of trauma for a certain worker who would have been the only one able to intervene. Not to mention my dad worked in the same building for a different shift, so that probably would have added an extra layer of disturbance to his life, too.

    While I was lucky to get in touch with someone via 988 quickly enough to fit in my lunch break, she did promise a follow up call in a couple days that never happened. I suppose I didn’t really need it (I mean, I’m still here, apparently), but it’s always made me worried that someone that actually does need a follow up might not get one.

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