Subject Line
How Do Crises Change During the Holidays? Body
I. Ask Bob.
Have a question? Email me! CTL Chief Data Scientist: ​
[email protected]
How do crises for our texters change during the holiday season? Do special
issues arise?
Holidays are often portrayed in the media as stressful times; the food gets burnt, politics
come to the table, etc. This makes for fantastic movies and SNL skits, but according to
our data it’s just not accurate. Looking at Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, and the
4th of July, volume is actually 17 - 20% ​
lower​
than volume on adjacent days. (This even
holds true on Valentine’s Day!)
However, the issues do shift on holidays. This past Thanksgiving the percentage of
conversations mentioning family issues increased from 17% to 24%. (Thats a 40%
increase!) Other issues that increased: body image / eating disorders (up 79%), romantic
relationship issues (up 26%), and suicidal ideation (up 9%.) Perhaps most surprisingly,
mentions of isolation increased by 39%.
Bottomline: we don’t see more volume on holidays, but we do see different issues surface
on those days.
II. Heroes
We are suckers for heartwarming Crisis Counselor origin stories like this one from John
Dios:
In February I read ​
The New Yorker​
article, "​
R U There?​
," and was blown away. There was
no question in my mind that I wanted to be a part of CTL. (Even now, I well up when I tell
others about the article.) The next time I spoke with my daughter, Gloria, I told her that I
was applying to be a Crisis Counselor with this amazing organization. Gloria was intrigued
and affirming, but said nothing more.
At the end of March, I received a text from CTL saying I had been accepted into the
training program. I was psyched. Then, within minutes, I got another text. "Dad, have you
heard from CTL yet about being accepted?" How could Gloria have been so psychic to
send me that question at that precise moment?! Well, she had been accepted too!! I never
even knew she had applied! I had no idea that my excitement about CTL had moved her to
make the same commitment.
We are now five months into volunteering with CTL. My daughter and I share insights
about what tools help texters (e.g., validation, strength IDs, collaborative
problem-solving). We also talk about how the same tools translate to how we deal with
people in our everyday lives, including each other.
[Editor’s note: This would be a really good time to call your Father, tell him you
love him, and ask him to apply to be a Crisis Counselor with you.]
III. Org News
A. Welcome Cohort 8! ​
We now have over 1300 Crisis Counselors taking conversations.
Cohort 9 is now in training and Cohort 10 will be jamming during the holidays--people
can still get into that cohort if they ​
apply asap here​
.
B. ​
A virtual hug. ​
December 31st marks our last day with the fabulous teams at
Switchboard Miami and Samaritans of Boston. We're forever grateful for your partnership
and passion. Special thanks to Supervisors Mandie, Jessica, Breana, Aram, Rebecca,
Neeti, and Jeremiah!!!
C. Join us! Private Facebook group for Crisis Counselors.​
There are now over 820
Crisis Counselors in there. To score an invite, email ​
[email protected]​
.
D. Join the Spike Team! ​
Our rapid response Crisis Counselor crew, the Spike Team,
helps out on platform when volume is high. If you’re Level 2 or higher, ​
Join the Spike
Team here​
.
E. Three new products we are psyched about:
● Referral search ​
(launched). How annoying is that alphabetical list of referrals?
Very annoying. Now, you are able to search it by entering a word or two. Yay!
● Synonym pop-ups.​
If you’re a Crisis Counselor, maybe you saw the thread in the
closed Crisis Counselor Facebook group where Nancy shared that we will soon be
shipping products based on data learnings. Thanks to Crisis Counselor feedback
there, we decided to make synonyms the first to ship. Soon, you will see pop-ups
suggesting synonym feeling words.
● New CC Resources.​
This section of the platform will receive a major overhaul
before the end of the year. Expect “cheat sheets” that summarize key things you
learned in training and product updates, general CTL news, etc.
● Other suggestions?​
Please let me know. I’d love to hear your ideas. And, think
about posting them as comments in the relevant Facebook posts. We really do read
that stuff and respond. Email ​
[email protected]​
.
F. We're hiring! ​
We love recruiting from within our community! ​
Apply here​
.
G. The 100 Club.​
We’re inducting 55 new members of the 100 Club, our biggest month
yet! Your name will now appear in ​
purple​
on the platform. (Each month, we add new
inductees.)
Whoo hoo to ​
Adam Stein, Alice Rose, Allen Wang, Amanda Liew, Amy Bourland, Anna
Hurley, Apollo Creed, Beth Johnston, Blair Farris, Brandon Duvall, Charles Levi, Christina
Gong, Dave Focareta, Debbie Hemenway, Eduardo Neal, Erin Lark, Esmeralda Alvarez,
Fran McTernan, Gia Fazio, Helen Shang, Ivan Ruiz, Javier Ponce, Jay Archambeau, Jeani
Pearson, Jenny Silver, Jill Bjerke, Julia Lambson, Katelyn Padalino, Katie John, Kirsten
Christensen, Krista Gassib, Laura Fettig, Laura Matthews, LeTisha Kasper, Liz Forgash,
Maggie Mcconnell, Mardet Homans, Mary Barrett, Mary Shapiro, Mayan Herman, Michelle
Curran, Michelle McGhan, Molly Van, Naveen Agrawal, Rebecca Driesen, Rebecca Henzel,
Remee Klos, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Samantha London, Saul Allen, Scot Seguine, Shinise
Muse, Steve Nolan, Susan Matthews, Vanessa Hartmann, Yuko Usui.
Bob Filbin
Chief Data Scientist
*About me: My favorite vegetable is broccoli. It’s the nerdiest of vegetables. It’s a ​
fractal​
!