Messaging a lifeline to those in need

A new volunteer’s experience with the Crisis Text Line

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Each Sunday morning at 5:45 a.m., Dorean Fellin wakes up and quietly tiptoes down the stairs of her Malverne home to avoid waking her two small children and husband.

When she reaches the basement, she turns on her computer and gets ready for her weekly, four-hour routine to help those in crisis through text messaging.

Just a few short months ago, Fellin began volunteering for the Crisis Text Line, a free national 24/7 text hotline for anyone in crisis. People struggling with depression, bullying, substance abuse, relationship problems, suicidal thoughts, and more will find someone ready to help them through their problem — anonymously and without uttering a word — by texting a message to 741-741. The organization is a non-profit, which began in 2013 and offers the service free. If a person has a cell phone plan with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint, all texts are free of charge from the carrier, and no record of the texts will appear on the person’s cell phone bill.

Fellin, who works as a school psychologist in Brooklyn said she wanted to do something outside of work to help others. “Mainly my job these days is paperwork, and I don’t feel like I help the kids directly,” said Fellin. “So when I saw information about this in New Yorker magazine, I saw it related to teens because all they do is text. I wanted to find another part of my life where I felt passionate about something in addition to my family.”

After going through a rigorous application process, Fellin competed a 34-hour training course over a period of six weeks, which included ongoing simulated conversations and personalized feedback from experienced trainers, as well as 8 hours of on-platform observation. Training content, the organization said, is based on best practices in crisis counseling and Crisis Text Line data.

What Fellin found after volunteering for several weeks, however, was that many of the texts she was receiving during her shift weren’t coming from teenagers. “I actually only had one teenager so far,” said Fellin. “Mostly it’s been all adults — mainly men in their 40s or 50s — who were looking for help.”

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