How many of you knew that Journey had a crisis call center?
Journey's center handles calls from all over, from different people all throughout Dane County. Crisis itself now serves over 5,800 unique consumers.Last year, our crisis call center had about 44,000 calls, which is an increase of 16.4% over the last two years. Here are a few insights from call center staff about the work that they do:
Is there an overall theme to the calls that you receive?
We deal with a lot of situational stress, those who have difficulty getting support, to consumers who are suffering from loneliness or having issues with medication.
Are more people calling than others? For example, is it mainly teens, females or males, older adults or all across the board?
In the moment, it’s hard for us to capture that data. I would say that it is really quite diverse.
Can you describe how you handle these calls, what is the process?
First, we do an introduction, we get what basic demographic info we can, then we complete a risk assessment and then we work on providing the appropriate intervention and help that the consumer needs.
Anything your team does to help with the emotional toll these calls can have on staff?
We do a lot of processing, multiple times a day. Different cases affect different people, so we try to be cognizant of that and talk with each staff person about how to best address the staff's needs. Transparency and shared vulnerability from leadership provides an example that emotions are ok& we will work through it together.
Tell us about your team of telephone workers. What is atypical day like?
They are incredible people who have an exceedingly difficult job. They are tasked with doing a thorough risk assessment for someone that they can't even see. Clinicians often rely on non-verbal communication as much or more as they rely on verbal communication when assessing risk. Our phone workers have to be exceptionally adept at picking up non-verbal warning signs while on the phone. We work side by side, consulting and supporting each other all day long
What do you like most about doing this work?
Seeing people go from the worst day of their lives to living life in a healthy and safe way.
