IMAlive: A Global Crisis Chat Service

IMAlive.org is an online crisis counseling service that uses an instant message (IM) chat interface instead of phone or SMS texting. I maintain Online Suicide Help, a global directory of services which are usually restricted to one country or even one small town. This has meant that most countries in the world could not access any services. Recently I learned that IMAlive changed its service area from US and Canada to be the first crisis chat service available worldwide, and I emailed to find out more about this change. John Plonski, IMAlive’s Director of Training and Developer of its Helping Empathically As Responders Training (HEART) program, kindly wrote back to share more. Q. Why was IMAlive created as a web-based crisis counselling service? A. The advent of IMAlive marked a logical next step in the evolution of providing helping services to those in crisis or at risk of suicide. As internet use became ubiquitous (it took 70 years for 90% of American homes to have electricity it took only 26 years for the Internet to reach a similar saturation level) those of us in the helping field made a move that paralleled the shift from face-to face assisting to telephone helping that happened in the early 1960’s. The internet represented barrier free portal to help paralleled the use of the telephone. Q. Why do people prefer it to a phone helpline or texting service? A. Allowing that the IMAlive platform handles text and chat (IM) in the same manner and those who come to...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Holiday Coping Mental Health and Wellness Psychology Suicide Technology chat Counselling crisis global interview Online web worldwide Source Type: blogs