June 2016 marks the launch of an exciting new era for Lines for Life. This is the month we made texting universal across all of our lines. Greg Borders, Crisis Lines Director, said, “Everyone [who will be texting] here is already a trained crisis … [Read more...]
Angels, their sons and daughters
Angela Jiminez’s aunt Priscilla killed herself when she was 24. She’d gotten pregnant in her junior of high school, and her family sent her to a convent, essentially to seclude her, hide her. They gave her child up for adoption. No one explained this in … [Read more...]
Lines for Life is Busy
Lines for Life has been on the move this spring—Bend, Seaside, Meford, Eugene, Prineville, Madras, Astoria, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Chicago—traveling around Oregon and around the nation to spread the word on our innovative substance- abuse and … [Read more...]
Accepting the new normal
I was asked to write something, the more personal the better, about what I believe to be helpful in talking with or working with veterans. To be honest, I don’t have a clue. I speak regularly in the Portland Public School system about my military service … [Read more...]
I just send and send into the world
If you feel ignored, or that your work is futile, Jennifer Garam is worth listening to. Worth listening to about running out of money, dealing with (what she sees as) obscurity. Hoping for acceptance. Not finding it. And how to cope with that. She … [Read more...]
Someone to watch over you
For most of the past month, Greg Borders has been quietly working with students and staff at Umpqua Community College, the Roseburg, Ore. school where a gunman killed nine and wounded nine others Oct. 1. Borders, Crisis Line Director for Lines for Life, … [Read more...]
Volunteer appreciation day
These are just a few of the beautiful faces from Volunteer Appreciation Day at Lines for Life, Jan. 7. These are some of the volunteers and staff who handled 54,127 calls to the crisis lines in 2015. (Photographer: Caitlin Muret and others.) … [Read more...]
A distant family member
Now that we’re in the post-holiday-recovery phase, we get to tell you what we did Dec. 25: we took calls on the LifeLine, and the Veteran’s Crisis Line, and the Helpline (for alcohol and drug-abuse resources) and spoke with people, much as we usually … [Read more...]
Remembering Tom Parker
One year ago our beloved friend and colleague, Tom Parker, passed away unexpectedly. We are reposting this remembrance to let Tom and his family know that he is never far from our hearts and minds. Especially today. Tom Parker was a friend and … [Read more...]
It’s a wonderful life
In the holiday classic movie, George Bailey has reached such an emotional low point that he is seriously contemplating suicide by jumping off a bridge. But before he can act Clarence, a guardian angel, intervenes and shows George how much love and support … [Read more...]