Thinking and Feeling Homosexuality

This chapter puts ambivalence over sex and self-presentation centre-stage, by focusing first on debates over drag and gender transgression, and then on the equivocal position of sex and desire in homosexual politics. While some activists embraced effeminacy for personal and for political reasons, drag was not always compatible with the model of masculinity favoured by many other activists, who sometimes accused Tunten (‘queens’) of endangering the chance of left-wing support. Turning to how sex featured in gay activism, the chapter shows how a shared antipathy to the gay scene, and sites of sexual activity, resembled an important point of connection between gay action groups and more ‘moderate’ homosexual organizations. The final third of the chapter historicizes the emotional politics of gay liberation. After identifying the gay scene as a major culprit for psychological distress in queer life, activists set about imagining alternatives. In this concluding section, the rise of consciousness-raising and self-help groups, and of the first telephone crisis helplines, is set against changing psychological attitudes towards homosexuality.

Implementation of a Pilot SMS-Based Crisis Support Service in Australia

Background: Australia's first short message service (SMS) crisis support service was launched by Lifeline Australia in July 2018. The pilot program was independently evaluated over a 240-day period. Aims: We aimed to examine the experiences of key staff employed in the Lifeline Text pilot and identify the skills and types of support required to deliver a high-quality SMS-based crisis support service. Method: In total, 22 interviews were conducted with 14 Lifeline Text crisis supporters and in-shift supervisors (supervisors) at two time points in September 2018 and March 2019. A modified framework approach was adopted to undertake qualitative data analyses. Results: Delivering crisis support via text was initially challenging as a result of the need to translate skills from telephone crisis support to the SMS platform. This was compounded by the high degree of suicidality of help-seekers and volatility in demand for the service. Limitations: The independent evaluators were not involved in the design of the pilot. Conclusion: Lifeline text is providing an important and necessary service, using a novel mode of delivery in Australia. Maintaining service quality at peak demand, with many distressed and suicidal help-seekers, requires specialized training, experience, and exceptional skills.

Crisis hotlines

A rationale for the role of crisis hotlines in suicide prevention is that suicidal behaviour is often associated with a crisis. The psychological autopsy research generally supports the association of stressful life events, such as interpersonal losses and legal or disciplinary problems, with suicide. Hotlines are a ubiquitous source of help internationally and the evidence for their effectiveness has grown substantially over the last decade. Recent research provides strong support for crisis hotlines’ role in reducing callers’ crisis and suicidal states. In response to concerns about the extent and quality of suicide risk assessments and crisis interventions by hotline staff, new practice recommendations and training and outreach strategies in telephone crisis centres have been implemented and evaluated.

Why do people call crisis helplines? Identifying taxonomies of presenting reasons and discovering associations between these reasons

The objective of this study is to identify the most common reasons for contacting a crisis helpline through analysing a large call log data set. Two taxonomies were identified within the call log data from a Northern Ireland telephone crisis helpline (Lifeline), categorising the cited reason for each call. One taxonomy categorised the reasons at a fine granular level; the other taxonomy used the relatively coarser International Classification of Diseases–10. Exploratory data analytic techniques were applied to discover insights into why individuals contact crisis helplines. Risk ratings of calls were also compared to assess the associations between presenting issue and of risk of suicide as assessed. Reasons for contacting the service were assessed across geolocations. Association rule mining was used to identify associations between the presenting reasons for client’s calls. Results demonstrate that both taxonomies show that calls with reasons relating to suicide are the most common reasons for contacting Lifeline and were a prominent feature of the discovered association rules. There were significant differences between reasons in both taxonomies concerning risk ratings. Reasons for calling helplines that are associated with higher risk ratings include those calling with a personality disorder, mental disorders, delusional disorders and drugs (legal). In conclusion, employing two differing taxonomy approaches to analyse call log data reveals the prevalence of main presenting reasons for contacting a crisis helpline. The association rule mining using each taxonomy provided insights into the associations between presenting reasons. Practical and research applications are discussed.

Emergency Hotline as a Communication Tool in Times of Crisis

For a couple of decades telephone crisis services called hotlines or helplines have been an important instrument in the process of providing help and assistance to people in distress. The idea of providing psychological help and support over the telephone was born of sincere kindness and sympathy of human heart but with time it evolved towards a standardized scientific discipline based on rules and procedures. The paper outlines the history of telephone crisis services and points to their most important functions in contemporary, globalized world.

Telephone Crisis Support Workers' Intentions to Use Recommended Skills While Experiencing Functional Impairment

Background: Empathic engagement with distressed others can lead to elevated symptoms of psychological distress and functional impairment, which preclude helping professionals' delivery of optimal patient care. Whether telephone crisis support workers are impacted in a similar way is not currently reported in the literature. Aims: This study examined the relationship between functional impairment and intentions to use recommended support skills in a representative national sample of 210 telephone crisis support workers. Method: Participants completed an online survey including measures of functional impairment and intentions to use recommended telephone crisis support skills with callers reporting suicidal ideation, symptoms of depression, and anxiety. Results: As a group, participants who experienced greater functional impairment during the past month reported significantly lower intentions to use recommended support skills with callers than those who reported lower functional impairment. Limitations: Future research is needed to clarify the extent to which results generalize to telephone crisis support workers from other organizations. Conclusion: Results warrant further research to (a) identify determinants of telephone crisis support workers' functional impairment, and (b) for the deliberate management of telephone crisis support workers' functional impairment through developing and/or modifying existing service strategies to optimize workers' psychological well-being and delivery of support to callers.