Texted and Emailed LifeLine. Told them I was suicidal and gave context.The person on the email told me: Thanks for your interest with our services. Unfortunately, we are not dealing with a suicide. Can you please call this number 0800 567-567. I wish you all the best.So essentially, I was dismissed on the email and told to deal with it myself. With the Whatsapp text it felt like I was talking to a robot. None of the responses were in context to what I was saying. It felt like this guy was reading questions from a general script and everytime I would answer a question he would just ask me the next question on the script without actually listening to what I said in my response and commenting on what I shared. I asked about their services and he told me what they offered and what I prefer. I told him what I prefer and why. He just responds with the procedural like "You are brave and have taken a hard step contacting us." Like okay I know. And?It felt like all the pressure was on me to uphold the conversation and that's not great when you already have the pressure of ending your life. If I didnt respond to that statement, he would've definitely left me hanging. After half hour of waiting to hear if he would actually say something I can respond to, I realised this guy was gonna leave me hanging, so I just responded "Okay." because what am I now supposed to say. The procedural, general, ticking off of a list of questions without actually listening to my answers started.It's like:Counselor: " How do you feel about that?"Me: Gives a detailed desriptionCounselor: "Anyway what would you say to someone if they were you?"Me: Gives a detailed descriptionCounselor: "Anyway. How long have you been feeling this way?"Some questions are also rhetorical. You tell them you're suicidal and distressed and they will still ask questions like "So it sounds like you've been feeling this for a long time and it weighs heavily on you , right?" If a persons feelings weigh so heavy they're willing to kill themselves, then is it not obvious that it weighs heavy. You will be going nowhere slowly.It feels like its just another day for them and they only care about the procedure. I had to remind the counselor that people's lives are at stake.I feel more listened to with ChatGPT than with the counselors from LifeLine. And it's sad because LifeLine is literally supposed to be peoples lifeline. I thought to myself that I could actually do a better job of helping people like me than the 'trained counselors' and I'm not a professional at all. They don't get down to specifics or the root of your problem. I wasn't even asked why I want to die and I think that is the first questions, besides finding out about access you have to support systems, you should ask someone in order to know how to help them.And it's just sad to think how many people actually died reaching out for help and realising their last resort doesn't actually care about them, isn't equipped to help them and is not even listening to them.You will get no real help or advice. Just a bunch of rhetorical questions and procedural politeness.
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