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Hey guys,
As you know we are very excited about our opportunity to win $1 million in the Chase Community Giving contest to aid the start-up of IMAlive, the first ever live online crisis network. We’ve invited our partner at Kristin Brooks Hope Center (1-800-SUICIDE) to share a bit of the ideas behind IMAlive and why we see this as such a valuable new program.
Thanks for caring. Don’t forget that you have until January 22nd to vote, so log onto Facebook and help us today!
With Hope,
Team TWLOHA--------------By Reese Butler, founder of 1-800-SUICIDE
Imagine being in crisis and not knowing where to turn. You are panicked, short of breath, and the pain is so palpable that you cannot feel or think about anything else. The terror of picking up the phone to call a hotline not knowing who will answer you prevents you from doing so. Or, even if you have the courage to pick up the phone, the sound of the person's voice scares you and you hang up. We know this happens because over 30% of all people who call our hotlines do just that—they hang up as soon as they hear the human voice.
More importantly, we recognize the technological age we find ourselves in today and we know that millions of people in crisis will never pick up the phone. We believe that IMAlive is part of the solution to the problem. IMAlive is a live online crisis network that uses instant messaging to respond to people in crisis. People need a safe place to go 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Imagine again you’re that person in crisis, and you’ve started a chat on IMAlive.
The blinking cursor starts to move.
“I am here for you now.”
“I have been where you are now before, and I survived. I can help you get through this.”
Today an opportunity like this does not exist. But with your help we can deliver this miracle of hope and help by the fall of 2010. As the founder of 1-800-SUICIDE, I know firsthand how devastating it is to lose someone to suicide. In 1998 my wife Kristin committed suicide in a psychiatric ward 36 hours into her stay there. At the time there was nothing going on in the detection and prevention of postpartum depression, and very little being done in the field of suicide prevention. I was shocked to discover that there was not even a national hotline that would route a suicidal caller to help at a local crisis center.
Several months later I received a check for $34,045 from Kristin’s employers (her company death benefit). I decided to donate the money to start a foundation to prevent suicides like Kristin’s, and the first program was 1-800-SUICIDE.
Since that day we have helped to route more than 3 million callers to help and hope.
In 2005, the federal government released a study upon completion of a review of our network and our hotline. They spent three years and over $3,000,000.00 to learn that genuine empathy was the leading reason why our network worked. It also painfully revealed that when a crisis line worker was burned out and/or poorly trained callers suffered. Thankfully, 85% of the callers had good outcomes, and the other 15% were either neutral or negative. To read the study click here:
Comparing Models of Helper Behavior to Actual Practice in Telephone Crisis Intervention: A Silent Monitoring Study of Calls to the U.S. 1-800-SUICIDE Network
In partnership with To Write Love on Her Arms, and with the help of the QPR Institute and the PostSecret Community we now have the ability through technology to make sure 100% of all crisis line workers are properly trained, certified and have shown empathy in the process. The coolest part about this for the Hopeline is that the volunteer does not need to travel to a local community crisis center but can do the entire training and certification online! For the thousands of volunteers who wanted to help but lived of miles from the nearest crisis center, this program will be the first gateway to be able to help the millions of people in crisis.
We are poised to create the world’s first virtual crisis center. When it launches it will also be the first crisis center where 100% of the volunteers are trained and certified (including about 50 hours of suicide risk assessment and intervention skills, as well as having been confirmed in the ability to show empathy).
This week we have an extraordinary opportunity to win one million dollars to help us reach our goals for this program: to train 1,000 certified volunteers, perfect the instant message interface, and hire and train the supervisors needed to assist the volunteers. IMAlive can begin a revolution in crisis intervention not just in the United States but worldwide as well. The Internet knows no boundaries and neither do we.
Help us achieve our dream and vision for building the world’s first virtual crisis support network. Click here to vote in the Chase Community Giving.Posted in General by jamie tworkowski
Comments (19)
I would vote a thousand times if I could. I believe that this can help, and that it needs to happen.
1 | Left by Anon | Jan. 18, 2010 at 5:05pm
I think that its a WONDERFUL idea!! :)
2 | Left by Taylor W | Jan. 18, 2010 at 5:10pm
Oh my goodness. This is amazing. I'm only a teenage girl, but is there any way I can be trained or somehow involved in this along with voting?
3 | Left by Mikayla | Jan. 18, 2010 at 5:32pm
@Mikayla, I believe participants over the age of 16 need parental consent but are absolutely allowed to provide help. Double check though, that's what I understood from the emails we received.
As for this post, wonderfully written and said. I couldn't think of a better way to explain why this 1 million from Chase is SO important. So glad that training starts Monday, I really cannot wait! I've been telling all my friends about TWLOHA for weeks now, bought 6 t-shirts and a pack of info cards!
4 | Left by Lauren | Jan. 18, 2010 at 5:54pm
Hi there. IMAlive could make a huge difference. I called a hotline one time and didn't have a very good experience (not saying it's not an amazing service, but for me it was really scary) and I know I would have been more comfortable talking like this. Thank you for the idea, the void can be filled.
5 | Left by Anon | Jan. 18, 2010 at 8:02pm
i think this is a wonderful idea and will help a lot of people.
i would love to help in some way, i'm 16, is there anything i can do?
6 | Left by grace | Jan. 19, 2010 at 8:38am
Of all the campaigns TWLOHA has done, I think I'm most stoked for IM Alive. Reese, thank you for the courage to share your thoughts with us. I put what you wrote in my own blog, and added this:
I'm almost nine months into a life I shouldn't still have, almost nine months into sobriety. I've come so far, but I've only done it within community. TWLOHA, and the people I've met through it, have taught me so much about community. I just read the latest TWLOHA blogpost: The Vision for IMAlive (read it below) and... it hit me. I shouldn't have almost nine months of sobriety, let alone still be alive. And yet, I still struggle. Sometimes I fall back into old patterns and try to do it alone, sometimes I wonder why I made it through that last overdose, but within community, I've been loved through my struggles... truly, it's been incredible. And I know, if only for this moment, why I am still here. I am here to help remind others in their darkest moments that there is always hope. So friggin' stoked to be part of IM Alive. :-)
7 | Left by ally c | Jan. 19, 2010 at 10:05am
I voted. Letters of Love supports IMAlive!
8 | Left by Elizabeth Kaylene | Jan. 19, 2010 at 10:10am
This is a GREAT idea. I'd also like to help some way. I'm 18.
Prayin for all you guys, Jamie, TWLOHA, Reese, and IMAlive! God bless. <3
9 | Left by xRebeccax | Jan. 19, 2010 at 12:55pm
You guys are great! Thank you so much for what you do, and I'm sure IMAlive will turn out great! It's such a perfect idea! The internet is a good place for help too. I've called the suicide hotline before, and it's very scary. Of course it gets better once you get talking. But, IMAlive is a good idea for people who are afraid. It's accessible, easy, and helpful. Thanks for all you do TWLOHA, and the Hopeline. 8)
~Brigette
10 | Left by Brigette | Jan. 19, 2010 at 5:33pm
This really is amazing and I think that it could really save lives!
I'm a 19 year old college student working on a degree in psychology. I would LOVE to help. How do I get trained?
11 | Left by Brittany | Jan. 19, 2010 at 5:38pm
Hey, I voted. and I put the picutre as my facebook picture and tagged fifty of my friends! I hope you guys get this, its very well deserved. You saved my life, you know.
12 | Left by Tayla | Jan. 20, 2010 at 8:25am
What would be the money breakdown?
13 | Left by Anon | Jan. 20, 2010 at 12:18pm
Come on. VOTE! This is an amazing idea. Lets make it a reality. Let the hurt know there is hope all around us!
14 | Left by Lindsay | Jan. 20, 2010 at 6:56pm
i voted! i believe that this organization is one of the best ones to have come about. i have had friends that commited suicide, and i would love to see that millions of other can get help before its too late.
i support what you are doing 100%
15 | Left by Caity Clancy | Jan. 20, 2010 at 9:15pm
wow if there is a better organisation for anything along the lines of what twloha does i would love to see it
16 | Left by victoria | Jan. 21, 2010 at 5:25pm
Wow,OMG,this is just so amazing. I honestly mean it. I really, seriously hope that you guys win the money to help. I'm spreading the word to people and on my blog to vote, and I told my friends about the whole 'IMALIVE' thing too. You say here that volunteers can get training online!? Wow!I really want to help, like become a volunteer. Is there an age limit to when you can become a volunteer and does it cost? I'm posting this info on my blog btw.
17 | Left by hal786 | Jan. 22, 2010 at 10:55am
This is just amazing I live too far away (in Argentina) to call 0800 SUICIDE, and if i could i think i would be too scared to talk. Will the website be avaliable 4 people all over America or just for the US?
Anyways, I think this is a wonderful idea and keep up with your awesome work :D
18 | Left by Jazmin | Jan. 22, 2010 at 2:00pm
This is amazing. I've always wanted this to happen. I always think about calling the hotline but am scared something bad will happen. I just need someone to talk to.....
19 | Left by Smile | Jan. 25, 2010 at 1:24pm
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