People at risk can be served best by helping them discover and draw upon their own strengths and resources.
· CSS is not in the business of imposing belief systems, solving problems, giving advice, or arguing people out of a wish to die.
· Our goal is to foster the life-affirming part of each caller and to help maintain or improve quality of life. This can best be achieved through non-judgmental, caring crisis intervention counseling in which callers are encouraged to take as much responsibility for their lives as possible.
· The tragedy of suicide is widespread, affecting not only those who kill themselves but those who are left behind.
· A significant factor exacerbating the problem of suicide is that most of us are taught to respect the taboo nature of the subject.... critical stage may be missed. When suicidal feelings do emerge, they are often greeted judgmentally and with disbelief, reinforcing their sense of hopelessness, worthlessness, and isolation.
· The value of CSS as a suicide prevention center is that it offers precisely what is most lacking from the suicidal person's environment: a safe place in which to explore with a respectful, concerned, non-judgmental counselor the frightening and often overwhelming impulse to kill oneself.
· Ironically, the training at CSS really involves an unlearning of the myths and discomfort that shroud the issue of suicide. Only when the cultural blinders are removed can one become attuned to the signs of depression and suicidal feelings and gauge one's intervention appropriately.
· This ambivalence is your greatest ally in any intervention with a suicidal caller, enabling you to reach out to that part of the person struggling to stay alive.
· Our role as a crisis intervention counselor is analogous to the work of emergency room medical personnel.
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