Texting is a Life Saver

One of my recent blogs was about communication and the different means that people use to communicate. I was discussing that various modes of communication are best for specific things. It just so happens that I read today about an organisation that provides support for people in crsis using text messages.

So we are all aware of the well-established support organisations like the Samaritans. Crisis Text was a completely new organisation to me, at first it appears counter intuitive, how can you provide support using texts, and indeed why do you need to use texts.

It appears that texts are now so ubiquitous particularly amongst the younger demographic. Apparently the average teenager sends 2000 texts a month. Also texting is something that can be done very quietly and privately. If you think about it phone calls can be heard, face to face requires physical proximity and thus is obvious to a potential abuser. Also people are very used to expressing their emotions and communicating by text.

This all came about because a social worker received a distressing text accidently, and was unable to follow-up on it. Now Crisis Text is dedicated to responding to supporting text messages. Once a text is received the same principles apply as to most counselling. Use open questions, use the first person as it implies more empathy, keep them on the line, and if things are urgent try to get help to the person.

The service is run like a Silicon Valley start-up in that most of the people responding to the texts work as part of virtual teams, and receive support/training on-line. So it is a really good volunteer model that can be flexibly performed from anywhere.

What interested me was the huge amount of statistical information that this organisation is able to gather. For instance the most depressed state by texts received is Vermont, interested to hear my readers’ views on this one. They also have very accurate statistics on the time of day particular problems occur.

All power to this organisation known as Crisis Text, using modern means to solve old problems.