HUNGARIAN TELEPHONE EMERGENCY SERVICES

„Meeting another person: meeting yourself.”

In every person’s life there could come a moment, when he/she feels unable to share his/her problems with anyone even though these usually are the moments when he/she might need to do so the most. The feeling of hopelessness and loneliness can get to us all.

"In the situation of trouble, despair and even in the danger of suicide, the Telephone Emergency Services are trying to give the possibility to everyone to get into touch with another human being who is open to talk to him/her as a friend by listening and carrying out a helping conversation, while respecting the person’s right for personal freedom. Such kind of help given by the Telephone Emergency Services are encouraging and trying to help develop the ability to overcome any crisis situations.
(IFOTES, International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services)

In Hungary the Telephone Emergency Services have been around since 1970 organized to accomplish the goals and expectations mentioned above. At the moment 33 Telephone Emergency Services accept calls with 9 of which work day and night. These years proved the necessity of such services. They offer help in many situations for callers by suggesting solutions for problems, conflict and life situations that they find unsolvable alone.
In today’s always changing world where up till just recently unemployment and the uncertainty of existence were unknown terms, where financial and living problems surfaced and became an important problem and where the interpersonal relations became very superficial in the so called communications society, the interpersonal relations of a human beings get easily lost. This is why we need a kind human voice that listens to us and helps us in critical moments. The anonymity loosens any taboo created by „the things we are not supposed to talk about”. This is how the telephone emergency services can help.

„Meeting another person: meeting yourself.”

From our surroundings and from the media more and more information reaches us each day, but we don’t always know if a near by fellow-human being has any personal problems. Every day we talk to one another in the news about the private life of soap opera stars, politicians and other so called famous people, but we are left alone when we bring up our own private problems trying to seek solutions.
If we find ourselves facing difficulties the following painful, lonely feelings often cross our minds: „Who cares about my problems?”, „Nobody cares about my problems!”, „Nobody can help me”. This is why we easily feel that we are left completely alone with our problems, feeling our situation hopeless, our future very dark.
On the other hand we all need warmth, the deep understanding of a fellow-human being, being accepted and recognized by him or her.
Many people are able to find and live in the intimate warmth of their home giving them security and confidence. But there are those who are less fortunate and get very little from all the above feelings, but need our understanding and support and are continuously searching to find it.
This is what the Telephone Emergency Services can offer them, where every day of the year they can find a sympathetic listening ear.

 

Question often asked

  • Does the caller have to identify him or herself?
  • No, the caller can stay anonymous, and has to only say as much about him or herself as it makes understanding the problem easier. All calls are handled confidentially.

 

  • With what kind of problems can we turn to the Emergency Telephone Services?
  • Our colleagues can accommodate any kind of problems or questions raising difficulties in someone’s life and can help with solving them eagerly.

 

  • Can one turn to this service for information as well?
  • Yes. Our colleagues on duty can give information about healthcare and welfare institutes therefore all callers can receive the most suitable and the best service they need.

 

  • Who are on the other side of the phone line?
  • Our colleagues on duty are specially trained volunteers, non-professionals, which means their daily work is different from this kind of work.

 

  • What is background of these services?
  • The leaders of these services are trained professionals and in many cities well known and respected psychiatrists, psychologists, mental hygiene professionals and so on. On top of the professional guidance the volunteers have constant supervising group meetings. Also the Association of the Hungarian Telephonic Emergency Services (www.sos505.hu) helps the professional work of the individual services by offering and organizing help on the national level.

 

  • Do the services have professional counterparts?
  • Usually the services have relationships with the healthcare and welfare system, and with the churches. In each city these relationships are developed uniquely based on traditions of the region therefore the links among them are tied a little differently. But to be able to act fast in emergency situations, all the services are tied to the national ambulance services and the emergency hotline 112 (including the special police unit).

 

  • What is the role of these telephone emergency services in medical care?
  • They often undertake the preventive role in healthcare. We can say that by operating these telephone emergency services we can save money for the health care industry. They are able to help successfully in many cases more which means those callers don’t have to seek professional help. But when our colleagues face a more serious case, they do suggest a visit to a doctor’s or psychologist’s office before the mental problem deepens and this case the professional and systematic care of the patient can begin right away.

 

  • Who can work as a volunteer for these services?
  • Every service has its unique conditions, but in general we can say that all of them require a high school diploma, Hungarian citizenship and have some age restrictions (e.g. between 20-65). They can also ask for a hand written CV and can assess the candidate’s aptitude, attitude, communicational and empathetic skills on a one on one or in a group meeting. The training the volunteers do is like a course. The candidates can attain the theoretical and practical knowledge in group exercises and they also take part in a self-knowledge and personality training courses.

 

In 1950 Chad Varah a vicar in London started the first emergency telephone service to prevent suicides from happening. The Samaritan movement originated from this initiation. This type of help based on volunteer non-professional workers is available for all whom lost hope.  Suicide is the strongest, most dramatic way of pointing at the personal shortcomings of the interpersonal relationships and essential conditions of life, the decline of tolerance and healthy personality structures and the devaluation of positive goals.

Based on international standards the goals of the emergency telephone services are the following: suicide prevention, crisis intervention mental hygiene prevention often undertaking the illness prevention of the health care services. They aim at being available for people who are dealing with crisis situations and problems. These services are free of charge and the caller can stay anonymous if he/she wants to.

Every year tens of thousands of people in the most different circumstances use our anonymous but not impersonal help in Hungary. These Services are self sufficient, the volunteers trained for crisis intervention work in shifts and in many places they are also basis of initiations of other kind of mental hygiene and prevention help, services.

In one of his essays Béla Buda says in 1975 the telephone services are becoming the “ guard points of conscience of the profession”, because  they meet with the complete cross-section of society,  the concatenation of human relations and the sufferings of the individual and the community, such as we do not encounter anywhere else but they have to demonstrate them.  They have to present this mirror and urge into action those whom they can.

According to Emőke Bagdy conversation with the telephone emergency service is different and more complete than exchanging opinions with a friend, neighbor or acquaintance is a more complex procedure in contents, form and professionalism. Since the confidential atmosphere of the particular field of connections between caller and the person on call promotes problem solutions without value judgment.