Sexually Abusive Calls Burden 988 Mental Health Crisis Line Counselors. They Want More Protection

Daisy started working as a crisis counselor for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline because she was personally affected by the loss of loved ones who’d taken their own lives, and wanted to help people avoid that outcome.

She and other crisis counselors talk to people facing a mental health emergency, and in some cases, in the process of dying by suicide. It is a difficult role, but Daisy said she felt the training at PATH Crisis Center in Bloomington, Ill. prepared her for it.

Then, she started getting what she described as “bogus sex calls.”

A man telling the story of his incestuous relationship with his sister, talking about her hopscotching, and asking Daisy if her chest bounced when she hopscotches. Then, asking her and other female crisis counselors to count to 69 or 100 — so he could time how long his climaxes would take.

“Everyone knows that there’s repeat callers to a crisis line, and there were repeat callers who were not using it for its intended purpose,” she said. “They were using it as a way to pleasure themselves.”

Sexually inappropriate calls, texts and chats are infrequent, but not uncommon on the 988 line, as are other types of abuse, including pranks, insults and personal attacks on the crisis counselors. National totals aren’t tracked, but data from one crisis center shows abusive contacts account for around 1% of the nearly 5,000 total calls the center receives per month. While the volume may be small, the impact these calls have on crisis counselors can be long-lasting, and multiple current and former counselors expressed there aren’t enough measures to protect them from these behaviors.

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