Empathy Saves Lives (Repost)
Reposting for my victim services friends who may be feeling a little pessimistic lately:
Before I was a SARC, I spent nearly six years working at RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Most of that time was spent working on or managing the DoD Safe Helpline. I am also a huge fan of the show 911. These three and a half minutes from the second season, episode 17 spoke to me in ways I didn’t expect. The first time I saw it I was speechless and grateful for whoever wrote that scene. Even after being off the hotline for a while, I didn’t realize that I needed to hear it said that way.
Like Maddie, I had callers and chatters I will never forget. The woman standing on the actual railroad tracks while I talked her off them. That was a scary call. The young woman I chatted with for nearly 3 hours from Ireland on Christmas day who was afraid to leave her house and could not contact the local non-profit rape crisis centers because they were all closed for the holidays so she was talking to some guy across an entire ocean in order to get through what she needed to get through. Random people from all over the country having one of the worst days of their lives.
If you have ever done crisis hotline work, you have callers that you will NEVER forget. People who made an imprint forever. Trauma that you absorbed and may still carry as psychic baggage to this day. Every time I heard someone say they felt less alone, or they weren’t going to hurt themself that day, or that they will call that number or visit that link for more information…it was worth it. At some point, the work can make you a little jaded, but you have to work through it and past it and then you REALLY get what you are doing and how that little bit of time you sacrificed may have absolutely changed or even saved someone else’s life. Like Maddie, I had deadend calls and chats. People hang up. They disconnect. You don’t know if they heard you..but maybe they did.
MAYBE. THEY. DID.
I choose to believe that they did. Maybe you planted a little seed. Maybe, what you said was the little difference between them waking up the next morning or not at all. Maybe what you said was the little difference between them getting help or never reaching out again. Maybe you helped them change the trajectory of their life in one phone call.
Empathy is so hated and mocked right now, especially in the current political climate where cruelty is celebrated. Yet it is also something we don’t have in enough supply. This three and half minute clip is worth the watch if you want or need to be reminded why empathy is so important or need the reassurance that your efforts make a difference. It is worth the time investment.