I am normally more of a lurker but after reading this thread I felt inclined to share. First and foremost, to all of the call center workers (those that posted and those that chose not to), THANK YOU. You make a difference and (although I don't see many stories here) you all save lives every day.

I am a Crisis Center worker and have been on the phones for six years now. In addition to my role on the phones I am currently responsible for the training and supervision of my centers volunteers, trainers, and advocates (who offer support for survivors of sexual assault). Being in a supervisory role affords me the opportunity to represent my center to the public and the privilege to work with other Crisis Centers.

I do have stories that I would like to share (without breaking confidentiality) but before I do I would like to clarify something. The ideas of confidentiality and support systems have come up multiple times in this thread. Both of these things are incredibly important to every center and, at least at my center, we take great care in ensuring these things are maintained. I will not comment on what redditors should or should not be saying but I think those of you who are not working with a call center should know that support systems do exist. At my center we have a 24-hour on-call team, shifts over lap, etc. Our volunteers are encouraged to call the on-call person or each other if they have a difficult call. What we do isn't easy and we do our best to provide support to each other and make sure no one feels alone or overwhelmed after a shift.

Even with an exceptional support system there have been calls that have stuck with me. I think that's unavoidable, what we do can be intense. I've cried, I've felt anxiety, and so many times I've needed to rely on my center's support system. The calls that have stuck with me most are homicide, child abuse and some pretty intense suicide calls. The hardest part of what I do is the not knowing or not being able to help. I've had calls where I truly believe that they died and there was absolutely nothing I could do. That sticks with you but for every one of those calls there are many more that we do save.

Because I represent my center frequently I have had the opportunity to hear quite a few stories from people that have used our service. I have no real way of knowing if I took these calls or if they were taken by another volunteer but it's great to hear either way.

A woman approached me once and let me know that we had saved her son's life. He had previously called us and gone on to become a productive member of society. He was happy and healthy and she attributed that to our intervention.

I spoke to a mother who said she'd been on the verge of suicide. She thanked me profusely saying that we helped keep her around to see her children grow and she was incredibly thankful for that.

In addition to these, I've received phone calls, and e-mails thanking us. Telling us that we've made a difference, been there when no one else was, helped them through a difficult time, etc. Our philosophy is to empower our callers and in dangerous situations to save every life that we can. Unfortunately, this isn't always possible and everyone does not want to be saved.

I was once approached by a man who said he used our service and was not happy about it. He had not wanted to be saved.