It is just after 4am and a text message comes in from Jed*, one of our clients: ‘Can you talk?’
I am on the early shift at our Suicide Crisis Centre – a safe place which is designed to provide essential face to face support for people in crisis.
Jed has never contacted us in the early hours before, and I am really concerned. A call allows me to provide an immediate intervention to help him stay alive.
Creating a strong connection is a vital part of this. But Jed still sounds so detached and disconnected.
It is clear that phone support will not be enough to keep him safe. He needs face to face help.
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Although we’ve adapted our services to help most of our clients who call in during the pandemic, it is not the same as being in the same room with someone.
It can be difficult to assess whether people are a threat to themselves comprehensively without seeing them; a person’s body language can reveal so much more than they say with words.
For this reason, we have carried on with home visits in cases where suicide risk is considered high and I am on my way to Jed’s house within the hour.
It must be so hard for clients to open the door and see my mask-covered face, but we have to keep everyone safe. Once we are sitting two metres apart, I gently take off my mask, and Jed looks suddenly visibly moved as this barrier between us is lifted.
It feels very symbolic. I see tears forming in his eyes. He can show emotion now and his own personal barriers start to dissolve. Finally we can start to connect as we used to.
The two metre distance can still feel strange and unnatural at times though, when you are with a client who is highly distressed. As I sit with Jed, I recall that I instinctively placed my hand upon his when I supported him during his previous crisis.
I wish I could that now, as his tears fall.
Although I am quite cautious about using touch when supporting clients, there are times when holding someone’s hand or giving them a hug seems absolutely right.
It is such a powerful way of providing comfort, emphasising connection and giving a strong message that ‘I am here for you and you are not alone in this’.
Back then, we built a strong connection through non-verbal communication, expression and human warmth, so I knew that meeting with him in person this time too was a must.
Lockdown has had a severe impact on many people’s mental health. They have become disconnected and isolated. As humans we are not designed to live in this way. Many people calling us are desperate for physical contact.
It can be hard to decide who needs face-to-face support, rather than through the phone. Previously we could offer this to everyone.
In the days after the lockdown was extended, we had a 40 per cent increase in calls to our crisis service
After getting back from speaking with Jed, I phone Graham*, who we have been supporting for the past couple of weeks. He has been experiencing severe agitation and he comments that my voice calms him.
I feel reassured that I am able to help him to return to a calmer and safer place.
The week before, when he was extremely distressed, I had wished I was there in person. Instead, we managed to get by with a series of phone calls over the night, which helped him through.
The pressure to make the right judgment call is intense – whether to go out in person. We have their life in our hands at that point.
Coronavirus has changed life immensely, and everyone – including our organisation – is trying to adapt.
There is also a lot of anger from our clients. They express frustration about their individual situations, but I think the unspoken rage is against the virus, for the way it has damaged lives.
After speaking to Graham I get a call from a female client called Charlie*. Every other word she swears. She is so fearful and feels so desperate about her current situation.
We understand anger and how to work with it. But it is the extent and frequency of it that we are witnessing during the COVID-19 crisis that is different.
Fear, loss, shock or at times a sense of powerlessness and injustice have shaped people’s mental health significantly.
There will be a huge need for ongoing mental health care in the coming months, and at the moment most psychiatric services are operating at a reduced level, so this needs to be increased as soon as possible.
We have seen a marked rise in the number of people needing our suicide crisis services.
In the days after the lockdown was extended, calls to our crisis service went up by 40 per cent.
The reduction in face to face support has sometimes made me feel that I can’t fully do the job I am meant to do. I instinctively want to be with our clients when they are experiencing such emotional pain.
Recently, I ended up in a graveyard after going to clear my head after a particularly difficult day. I noticed the names on the gravestones and the loving inscriptions chosen by the family members left behind.
I spent some time beside my own loved one’s grave; I always place my hand on it whenever I visit, in the place where their heart would be.
When I do it, I feel my touch represents connection. It reminds me of how important it is in my job and how much work there’s still to be done among the living.
*Names have been changed
Joy Hibbins is the founder and CEO of Suicide Crisis, a charity which runs Suicide Crisis Centres. She is the author of Suicide Prevention Techniques.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/24/what-like-work-suicide-crisis-centre-pandemic-12889894/
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