A Social Worker Offered Mormon Lingo to Me When I Was in Crisis, Told Me to Think Happy Thoughts, and Hung Up on Me — While I Was Still in Crisis Rhett Wilkinson Follow May 26, 2019 · 3 min read

I called a crisis line. You may say it was tragically less than helpful. In fact, it only made the situation worse. The issue was created by a social worker on the other end of the Utah County Crisis Line.

(United Way of Utah County)

Immediately after telling her I am considering killing myself, this person talked about “the other side.”

I’m not against talk about heaven, but “the other side” comes ripped from language used in culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Which still would not be bad, except that she is not speaking organically. Not from the heart. When I was suicidal.

Further, she did nothing more than parrot what the system she is in fed her.

And that’s what she had to offer above anything else when I wanted nothing more than to die.

Then she went on to talk about thinking positive thoughts. I do know social work well enough that least to know that simply thinking positive thoughts doesn’t help anyone depressed, let alone suicidal. And in fact, that patients should be encouraged to grieve. (Not to say that she said nothing about medications or even exercise, let alone yoga.)

(Perhaps this photo expresses Latter-day Saint culture well.) A crisis worker offered Mormon lingo immediately after I told her I was considering killing myself and proceeded to give an idea prevalent in LDS culture about thinking “positive thoughts.”

Another example of her just parroting an idea fed to her by culture, instead of doing the work of life-saving.

So then I got at these ideas. I said that I had compassion for how she was handling the call since her thoughts are not her own since she is part of a cult. Her response?

Hang up.

On someone who may kill themselves?

And she said she has been a social worker for 15 years.

How often, then, did she miss out on helping folks in real pain? How much did she simply drop the ball? Has she fallen short for years?

Perhaps this is why the recording to start the call to the Utah County Crisis Line emphasizes that the social workers are volunteering.

Perhaps, though, even those not getting paid should be kept from life-saving circumstances if they are going to drop the ball so bad.

The Utah County Crisis Line has a tagline of “Let us be your lifeline.” Hopefully at least not this lady any longer.

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Even if you no longer affiliate with the Latter-day Saint (ex-Mormon) church but enjoy sociality with family and friends as before, you can still find social settings organized by the Utah Valley PostMormons. There, you can find your people. And of course, if you don’t enjoy those relationships like before, the many UVPM events that happen each week can be even life-saving.

Led by wonderful people, UVPM is also for folks who just are struggling with it or are “never Mormons” seeking a break from the predominant culture. Find their events on Facebook and Meetup.

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