While September was Suicide Prevention Month, dedicated to raising awareness around this nationwide crisis, it is a year-round effort for hotline workers like Jasmine Kuo.
Kuo is in her third year working with the Santa Clara County Suicide Prevention Program, which serves residents of Los Altos and the 14 other cities in the county.
It’s “that sigh of relief at the end of the call” that keeps her going, she said. “Or even a simple, ‘thank you.’ I can’t place a dollar amount on that feeling – it is priceless.”
Kuo, a San José resident, is the lead crisis counselor for chat and text services for the county’s suicide hotline.
The staff last fiscal year answered approximately 60,000 calls from the 988 line and their local crisis line along with about 2,600 text and chat conversations, according to program manager Lan Nguyen.
Kuo started working on the crisis chatline in July 2023 when the county launched the chat and text features.
“I do consider chat and text different than phone-based crisis counseling,” Kuo said. “It’s more challenging because it requires a different level of personalization in the way we engage with our help-seekers.”
Kuo noted how tone of voice and verbal affirmation aren’t present in text or chat conversations. Instead, text line workers often rely on paraphrasing to show that they understand what the other person is going through.
The text line has proven vital to reaching more people in the community, according to Nguyen. He added that through the text line, they have received a larger number of child and adult abuse reports compared to the call line.
Kuo said this is happening because “It can sometimes be less triggering to express trauma when you are typing rather than saying it over the phone.”
She also pointed out how texting can be more convenient for those seeking help.
“Due to the nature of texting and chatting, these interactions can last much longer which can allow help-seekers to multitask,” she said. “For example, we’ve had adolescents in the backseat of a car while maybe their parents are fighting. Being able to chat and text opens up a lot of doors for people.”
Nguyen said that is incredible considering the “limited number of counselors and volunteers.” He added that the program has a team of three paid leads and 18 paid counselors. It also relies on 62 volunteers who spend four hours a week working for the crisis lines.
Kuo started off as a volunteer and now is a paid staff member. She described the process of volunteering and working for the program as “extensive.”
“We learn how to conduct safety assessments, what to do if someone is experiencing imminent risk and how we can collaborate with other crisis services like Santa Clara County’s mobile crisis response team,” she said.
For Kuo, her profession fulfills a lifelong goal.
“For my undergraduate career I majored in psychology,” she said. “I always knew that I wanted to help people.”
Kuo first volunteered as a crisis counselor when she was in college, which followed a job in which she experienced “burnout.”
“I wanted to experience that feeling again that I had about a decade ago,” Kuo said. “I felt this sense of purpose. There’s an endless amount of people out there that are hurting, and it’s really crucial for those people to have someone to turn to.”
Anyone who needs someone to talk to is encouraged to call or text 988. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/2jta4sbn.
