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Success Stories
Mary Drexler is vice president of case work service and training at United Way-funded Infoline, an information and crisis prevention hotline located in Rocky Hill.
By Dawn Caminiti
©2003 Republican-American
WATERBURY — A desperate woman, drinking heavily and armed with a weapon to turn on herself, made one last call.
It saved her life.
The phone call worked thanks to the trained staff at Infoline, a 24-hour, three-digit information and crisis prevention hot line.
The suicide call came in during the third shift.
After talking with the woman, a caseworker knew she was highly suicidal and contacted police. The caseworker kept the woman on the line while the telephone company traced the address and police headed to her home.
"Our callers are trained to listen very actively to what the callers are saying, giving positive feedback and keeping them on the line long enough to give them the help they need," said Angie Medina, director of the northwest region for Infoline.
The woman went to the hospital voluntarily once police arrived at her home.
Suicide calls are not the only issues Infoline caseworkers deal with. The service provides crisis intervention and free information to the community. Infoline has a database of upward to 4,300 health and human services agencies.
"We help find answers to any questions that callers have," Medina said. "Everyone needs help at sometime in their life and sometimes they do not realize what is available in their community and sometimes they don't know where to turn."
The health and human services information and crisis hot line began in 1976 as a partnership with 24 local United Way chapters in Connecticut. It is one of 34 agencies in Greater Waterbury funded by the United Way. Each year the United Way collects money to disperse to the many programs and agencies it supports.
Many of the agencies funded by the United Way are part of Infoline's database, which is also available at www.infoline.org. The database offers about 38,000 services statewide. Among them are mental health services, housing, financial assistance and drug and alcohol abuse help.
More than 300,000 people called 211 last year, including parents, teenagers, law enforcement officials, child care professionals and social workers looking for help with their cases. Most of the calls that come in are for basic needs like financial assistance, food, shelter, transportation, child care and counseling, according to Medina.
Suicide and other crisis calls come in every day.
"It depends on how you define a crisis. A teen calling who is pregnant, that to them is a crisis. An elder who has no one to talk to in the middle of the night and can't sleep, that to them is a crisis. Someone being evicted, that to them is a crisis," Medina said.
A staff of 35 caseworkers in Rocky Hill goes through training to be prepared for any call.
"They are trained on everything from maneuvering the database to dealing with suicidal callers," said Mary Drexler, who is in charge of the training. Topics include effective listening, assessing a crisis, substance abuse and disabilities.
Extensive training goes into suicide prevention, according to Drexler. The training includes role-playing, case scenarios, how to assess the caller and what actions to take regarding the risk level.
The woman mentioned earlier was assessed as a high-risk suicide because she had a history of suicidal gestures, had been drinking and had means to follow through. The caseworker called police because of the high risk, something that's not common for most suicide calls. Drexler said 98 percent of the time police are not called.
Drexler said 99.9 percent of the time the caseworkers are good at establishing a relationship with suicidal callers. "Someone just needs to listen to them and make them feel like they have control," she said.
Infoline receives 1,400 to 1,600 calls from people threatening suicide each year, but some are repeat callers. About 3,000 crisis calls come in each year. Infoline tries to follow up on crisis calls "in some way, shape or form," Drexler said.
To donate to Infoline, contact the United Way at (203) 757-9855 or Infoline at 211.
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