Arkansas Crisis Center

… from Biz2Biz NWA, May “Healthcare in the Workplace”

By Amy Lamb

“I’m 135 pounds and 5 foot 7. How much whiskey would it take to kill me?”

This is where Jill (not her real name) found herself after a roller coaster ride in a long-term abusive relationship. At the end of her rope, unable to fight one more day, and seeing no way out, she called the Arkansas Crisis Center in a desperate attempt for help.

On the other end of the line she found a trained volunteer ready to listen.

“This woman had suffered horrible domestic violence for years,” recalls Shelby Chandler, executive director of the Arkansas Crisis Center (ACC). “Her husband was in jail, she just wanted everything to go away.”

It took nearly two hours on the phone that day to help Jill find the strength she needed to move ahead in her life. Unfortunately, Jill is in the company of many.

The Arkansas Crisis Center is an all-volunteer call center that works day and night to restore hope, empower individuals, and save lives through suicide awareness and crisis intervention. Formerly known as the Northwest Arkansas Crisis Intervention Center, the organization has been around since 1985. Today, under a new name, staff and volunteers play a crucial role in linking residents in need with community resources.

“Just having another person to listen and care makes all the difference,” Chandler says. “To be a volunteer here, you have to have compassion, but also creativity. We can’t drive over there and fix their problems, but we can help them find the resources they have – both internal and external – to make a plan and restore their hope. We help them uncover their reasons for living. They have them, they just can’t see them at that moment.”

Suicides and attempted suicides are the 11^th leading cause of death in Arkansas and the third leading cause of death among young people. Suicides not contained to any age group, social status, educational background, or income level. In fact, the age group with the highest percentage of suicides in Northwest Arkansas is 45 to 54 years.

“We’ve had calls from bank officers, wives of executives, you name it,” Chandler says. The ACC can host educational seminars to any local business that feels the need, and also offer crisis response if a suicide affects a local business. Some 60 percent of all Americans know someone who has died by suicide. In 2009, the center took 78 life-threatening suicide calls per month and nearly 6,000 calls during the year.

According to Chandler, 60 to 90 percent of people who die by suicide are found to have a diagnosable mental condition. “Some are diagnosed, some are under-diagnosed. Depression is a chemical imbalance just like diabetes. Depression is not a character flaw. And depression is fatal if left untreated. Unfortunately, with suicide, the research is just not out there.”

Since being hired as executive director in 2007, Chandler has been making strides to increase awareness, state and national awareness, prevention and funding. Arkansas gets little to no funding from the state for the study of suicide prevention, according to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The Arkansas Crisis Center serves the entire state, and is a member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Anyone who calls the national suicide prevention hotline from Arkansas will be routed to ACC, where volunteers are more familiar with local resources to help callers.

Community Partners

ACC is dependent on private funding for most of its operations. The two biggest funding sources are the Charity Challenge of Champions (http://www.nwacharitychallenge.org/) tennis and golf tournament at Pinnacle Hills, held annually the last week in September. This year the event is September 23-27, and is actively seeking sponsors.

The other main source of funding is United Way of Northwest Arkansas.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been here for 25 years and most people just don’t know we’re out there,” Chandler said. “If you’re someone with a heart for our agency, we’ll find a way for you to contribute.”

Local businesses can help with in-kind services or donations, such as cleaning, sponsoring billboards, clerical work, paying for advertising, or sponsoring community events.

The center is always in need of volunteers. The next training session is May 4. For information call the crisis center at 1-888-CRISIS2 (888-274-7472) or visit www.arcrisis.org.

“We are here to make Arkansas safer,” Chandler says. “Suicide is preventable. When people consider suicide, most don’t want to die. They just don’t know how to make the pain go away.”

Crisis Chat Brings Hotline Online

The Arkansas Crisis Center has added a new support tool to reach people online called Crisis Chat.

A grant from the Alex Blackwood Foundation for HOPE purchased the software for this 24/7 “chat room” support line. Blackwood was 19 when he died of suicide at home in Little Rock. His father, Steven Blackwood, has made it his mission to eliminate the stigma and silence surrounding suicide. “Everyone knows the warning signs of heart attack,’ Blackwood said. “We all need to be equally aware of the signs of suicide.”

Since young people are at high risk of suicide, this online program reaches them where they’re already spending their time – on the computer. They can go to www.arcrisis.org and chat with a counselor. A text version will be available soon.

Suicide Warning Signs

Many times, friends and family only recognize these signs after it’s too late. For Steven Blackwood, he realized his son had sent friends text messages leading up to his suicide.

• Threatening to hurt or kill oneself or talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself
• Looking for ways to kill oneself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means
• Talking or writing about death, dying, or suicide when these actions are out of the ordinary for the person
• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling rage or uncontrolled anger or seeking revenge
• Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities – seemingly without thinking
• Feeling trapped – like there’s no way out
• Increasing alcohol or drug use
• Withdrawing from friends, family, and society
• Feeling anxious, agitated, or unable to sleep or sleeping all the time
• Experiencing dramatic mood changes
• Seeing no reason for living or having no sense of purpose in life

(National Suicide Prevention Lifeline)

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