Helplines and Crisis Intervention Services: Challenges for the Future (IN: Suicide Prevention: Resources for the Millennium, edited by D Lester)

This chapter examines a wide range of services designed to help persons in a suicidal crisis & to prevent suicide by means of personal contact by telephone or face-to-face. The origins of suicide prevention organizations are reviewed & the question of whether telephone helplines & crisis intervention services prevent suicide is discussed. Outcome studies of the effectiveness of telephone helplines are also discussed in terms of changes in suicide rates in target populations, satisfaction with services, & follow-up, repeated use of services, & referral. Two aspects of process studies are described: technical & clinical. Future challenges for these types of services are reviewed. (68 refs.)