I don’t think a median call center worker would do well at a suicide hotline (source: I’m a former volunteer). I leave most call center interactions feeling vaguely bad, and handling returns is emotionally easier than helping suicidal people.
Separately, you need a lot of people, because It’s hard enough to find people who are good at it for 4 hours/week and almost no one can do it full time.
A quick google suggests the average hourly wage of a social worker in the US is $29/hr — would they be better prepared/trained to do well at this work?
I think this point holds as long as we grant that the estimated cost to staff a hotline is anywhere within this order of magnitude, suggesting that this is one of the most cost-effective mental healthcare + life-saving interventions we’ve ever identified, particularly in wealthy countries.
Of course, the specifics of implementation would be way more challenging than just writing a check. It would only be if the cost of staffing a hotline with competent employees came out to be 10x or 100x more than the $15-30 range that I think this argument wouldn’t apply.
I don’t think a median call center worker would do well at a suicide hotline (source: I’m a former volunteer). I leave most call center interactions feeling vaguely bad, and handling returns is emotionally easier than helping suicidal people.
Separately, you need a lot of people, because It’s hard enough to find people who are good at it for 4 hours/week and almost no one can do it full time.
A quick google suggests the average hourly wage of a social worker in the US is $29/hr — would they be better prepared/trained to do well at this work?
I think this point holds as long as we grant that the estimated cost to staff a hotline is anywhere within this order of magnitude, suggesting that this is one of the most cost-effective mental healthcare + life-saving interventions we’ve ever identified, particularly in wealthy countries.
Of course, the specifics of implementation would be way more challenging than just writing a check. It would only be if the cost of staffing a hotline with competent employees came out to be 10x or 100x more than the $15-30 range that I think this argument wouldn’t apply.