niomi

I know the hotline helps. Lots of positive testimony already, so I’m not covering it, but I am aware. And the truth is it still makes me angry. My big problem is: the Hotline is the bottom of the barrel for help

So here's a story...in international communities online, I’m asked to help someone’s American friend. eg: LGBT youth abandoned, someone impoverished & needing medical care, BIPOC and trans victims of violence.

What I'm about to describe is typical for all kinds of “assistance.” But I'll use an LGBT youth housing program as an example.

I am not well equipped to help people outside my geographical & personal network. Very few of the netizens who need help happen to be near me. I do know USian jargon, so I try Google for my overseas contact's American friend. On clearnet it’s mostly state-enabled programs.

Google listings are a bit behind the live page. I click on a listing for a housing program that says “here’s where to walk in” or “how to schedule an appointment” or “who to call for assistance”...

but the only information on the live page is that goddamned suicide hotline.

It's so common.

Maybe it’s defunded since Google made the listing; or it’s full, or only operates sometimes, or NIMBYs kicked the house out of their neighborhood so it’s trying to find a new place to go…

Typically, no such explanation for why the program has ghosted. So I asked a local reddit and I found out they only run this housing program in summer. Then why not also, “try again in a couple of months!” on their page?

So the LGBTQ+ teen can call the number and talk about how being houseless makes them sad. This teen has nothing but what they carry and a stranger who will never speak to them again. If they get beaten, trafficked, or killed, this volunteer will never know. And the volunteer says things like, “life is worth living!”

Life is worth it, even when your family has abandoned you. and your socks are wet and cold with no way to clean or dry them. and your tent & items you need get stolen and swept by cops. When all this brings you to the edge, the number will talk you down and insist you stay alive. A housing program is only there for the summer, but talk is here for you all year.

I get that talk can be helpful but it's also cheap. The hotline won't claim it’s a substitute for a house, and yet…in a case like this, I think: thanks for nothing.

A few more points in less detail:

• The volunteers try to manage different types of resources, but are ill-informed. Imagine the lost LGBTQ+ youth calls the hotline posted in place of a housing program. But volunteer recommends that same defunct program that refers back to hotline. Over and over I’ve watched the line provide friends or family a full list of 100% runarounds and dead ends.

• the suicide hotline understaffs with volunteers. Before 988, already a third of calls dropped before they get through.

• If the text crisis line doesn’t become a shitty customer service robot, I will eat my entire hat. Already, shitty robots are running a text equivalent to triage. These robots are capable of summoning interventions and police without any human oversight. Then the hotline sells user data to private companies who develop customer service chatbots.

• Volunteers talk vulnerable callers into calling emergency services including cops. They can arbitrarily decide to summon cops themselves. These “emergency services” are dangerous. Promotions for the hotline say, “you don’t have to be suicidal, call for any reason, just to talk!” but non-suicidal callers still risk getting wellness checks that can go bad.

• Hotlines increase psych hospitalizations which might seem like a good thing. Callers should have access to hospital care, if they need it. Yet non-suicidal people get trapped all the time, wondering what the fuck happened. The truth is, some volunteers overreach wrongly. Any depressed person expressing hopelessness is at risk of detainment. Involuntary holds are used disproportionately against minorities such as (but not limited to) nonwhite, non-men, and queer people.

• Actual talk therapists are on short supply. Especially long lines for therapists accessible to people in poverty. New therapists have the shortest wait for appointments and I thank them for their service, but damn. With the hotline, we are instead doing therapy by call center which is terrible.

• Recently, we got a final nail in the coffin for imbalance theory in SSRIs. This is just one more data point for the big picture: mental illness is not mere biological error. Maybe it’s not even very much of that. Our environment & society is making us sick. But treatment is too personal to actually put a dent in growing and widespread despair.

2025 Update on imbalance theory: This theory is not so dead as it seemed when I wrote this, but my point stands in that many mental illnesses are casualties of capitalism.

In summary, “reach out for help” or “find someone to talk to,” etc is secular thoughts and prayers. This is not suicide prevention. It is suicide delay.

Suicide prevention is access to food, homes, medication, education, transportation, and more. Without material and community support, people will die. That’s just the way it is. The sooner we act on that, the better. But the hotline expanded while social welfare is at a crisis level is insult to injury.