Contact:	Arlene Klemow	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	908/301-1899	June 11, 2009

 

Calls to CONTACT’s Crisis Hotline on the Rise

New Jersey — The caller was distraught: She hates Sunday nights — thinking about returning to work the next day in a job that is filled with uncertainty. She works for a prominent media company that has been suffering horrible financial setbacks. She worries if her job, or the company itself, will survive. She is fearful for her career at a time when she has a huge mortgage to pay, an aging mother to care for and health issues of her own.

As people across our state and nation reel from the current economic crisis, calls to the Westfield-based CONTACT We Care hotline are up over 20% from the same time last year, according to David Owens, executive director. The recession’s job losses, housing and stock market crises and other uncertainties have led to a significant increase in calls about financial stress, unemployment, and loss of job or home.

Since 1975, CONTACT has been soothing souls and saving lives through its volunteer-staffed caring and crisis hotline. Currently 120 men and women volunteer to staff the hotline, which is the primary responder in New Jersey to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s numbers 1-800-SUICIDE and 1-800-273-TALK. CONTACT also answers a local hotline number: (908)233-2880.

“So many more of our callers are distraught over financial, employment or housing issues and desperately need our support,” said Owens. “For so many people it’s difficult to talk to those closest to them about personal problems, fearing criticism or rejection. With issues of unemployment or financial stress, there is often additional shame. Talking to complete strangers, trained to listen, can be extremely helpful.”

Another caller we’ll refer to as ‘M’ called CONTACT We Care several times over the winter. He had prided himself on being a savvy investor, but now, half of the value of his holdings had disappeared, taking his own estimation of his self-worth with it. Devastated, he was thinking of suicide. After several weeks of occasional calls, ‘M’ decided he should seek professional counseling.

In recent years the number of suicide calls handled by CONTACT has doubled with now more than 4% of the calls classified as suicide. While the American Association of Suicidology says there is no clear association between a recession and suicide rates, they say there is a direct relationship between unemployment and suicide.

A recent caller we’ll refer to as ‘J’ lost his job a year ago. His wife left with the kids. He has been prescribed medication for the depression that has overwhelmed him. Though he is despondent over the horrible turn his life has taken, he is ambivalent about suicide and has no immediate plan to kill himself. What he’d really like is a job. He said talking to CONTACT helped.

“Today, more than ever, it’s critical that we are here to staff the phone line and answers the calls,” said Owens. “Studies have long shown that people exhibit more symptoms of mental illness and depression during periods of economic turmoil. In good times and bad times, CONTACT is the safety net for the community.”

For information about volunteering at CONTACT We Care, call 908/301-1899 or visit the website at www.contactwecare.org.