depends on reqs I guess. Working a psych hotline is a hard to fill job in general, I have heard that just doing days on a child abuse hotline you can easily get $38-$40 an hour…. I’ve never been tempted. A friend of mine has done 911 dispatch, apparently that’s good money.
but if it requires, as in per statute, a masters degree in social work or psych, that’s a six figure salary anyway, that works out to $60 an hour, and yes I get that seems like a sizeable sum, but that’s also six years just in school, two to three years of practicum, hard stuff to go through. You earn it if you get to it.
I’ve spent more time than most talking to suicide hotlines, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it requires a graduate degree.
i thought most were run on volunteers? i did a brief check and most are paid like $22 here. i looked through a bunch and none were anywhere near $60/hr.
the ones i’ve called and gotten someone seem like it’d be better staffed with braindead teenagers. all of them read from a cookie cutter script. one lady actually MADE me feel suicidal when i wasn’t before i called -_- that was the last time i ever called.
maybe specialized crisis lines get paid more, like the children’s one you mentioned. but general sui lines are shit. seem to be staffed by volunteers with zero background in psych. hell, i wouldn’t even mind volunteers with no background in psych if they were actually good, but the ppl i’ve gotten were worse than crap.
jobs and pay being what they are these days, ppl get paid shit wages for all the work they do. it’s hard for me to imagine ppl getting paid $60/hr- i’m sure it exists but good luck getting that gig. 95% of hotline workers get paid crap, yet they want a masters degree and experience and your first born. O_o
it’s probably a pretty narrow situation, remember how I said per statute? That’s the big gotcha. Some cities and states will decide they really want to spend the money to drive their suicide numbers down, so they pass a law requiring more effort going into suicide hotlines. I’m thinking specifically about certain counties in Oregon, Washington State and California.
So they push a bill through the legislature that sets aside the money, but the back end catch is that it is always results driven, if they don’t see the numbers go down quick, they’ll pull back that money. But some of the times it probably does work, I’ve heard of it working in Europe, but they do all kinds of nutty stuff over there, they house the homeless and tax the rich……..
it’s a whole pinko commie anti capitalist rant I won’t get into, but that sort of thing isn’t allowed to happen in the good ol’ USA, or at least not in the whole country at once. Maybe in certain parts, but they better keep quiet about it.
says it’s 44-65k/yr for 911 dispatch. yeah, i would never want to do 911 dispatch. if you fuck up even one call, it could lead to someone’s death. plus, you get nonstop emergency calls the whole hour, every hour, for 8 straight hours. that’s fucking hard to take.
on the other hand, i have heard auto on some 911 operators that were dicks to ppl and delayed sending an ambulance leading to the death of ppl.
same for most hotlines, you screw up, someone is dead. Domestic violence, child abuse, suicide, eating disorders, it goes on and on, you miss a fatal risk someone dies, and that death will haunt you forever.
I just hate talking to people on the phone, always have. I thought when email came around most people would go to that, it’s easier, and you can edit and say what you mean, but nooooo some people still want you to call them…… some companies too, makes no sense to me, I can type three times faster than I can talk. Also you can always understand what I write, but my voice it’s 50/50 if I speak well enough and that takes way more work.
6 comments
depends on reqs I guess. Working a psych hotline is a hard to fill job in general, I have heard that just doing days on a child abuse hotline you can easily get $38-$40 an hour…. I’ve never been tempted. A friend of mine has done 911 dispatch, apparently that’s good money.
but if it requires, as in per statute, a masters degree in social work or psych, that’s a six figure salary anyway, that works out to $60 an hour, and yes I get that seems like a sizeable sum, but that’s also six years just in school, two to three years of practicum, hard stuff to go through. You earn it if you get to it.
I’ve spent more time than most talking to suicide hotlines, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it requires a graduate degree.
i thought most were run on volunteers? i did a brief check and most are paid like $22 here. i looked through a bunch and none were anywhere near $60/hr.
the ones i’ve called and gotten someone seem like it’d be better staffed with braindead teenagers. all of them read from a cookie cutter script. one lady actually MADE me feel suicidal when i wasn’t before i called -_- that was the last time i ever called.
maybe specialized crisis lines get paid more, like the children’s one you mentioned. but general sui lines are shit. seem to be staffed by volunteers with zero background in psych. hell, i wouldn’t even mind volunteers with no background in psych if they were actually good, but the ppl i’ve gotten were worse than crap.
jobs and pay being what they are these days, ppl get paid shit wages for all the work they do. it’s hard for me to imagine ppl getting paid $60/hr- i’m sure it exists but good luck getting that gig. 95% of hotline workers get paid crap, yet they want a masters degree and experience and your first born. O_o
it’s probably a pretty narrow situation, remember how I said per statute? That’s the big gotcha. Some cities and states will decide they really want to spend the money to drive their suicide numbers down, so they pass a law requiring more effort going into suicide hotlines. I’m thinking specifically about certain counties in Oregon, Washington State and California.
So they push a bill through the legislature that sets aside the money, but the back end catch is that it is always results driven, if they don’t see the numbers go down quick, they’ll pull back that money. But some of the times it probably does work, I’ve heard of it working in Europe, but they do all kinds of nutty stuff over there, they house the homeless and tax the rich……..
it’s a whole pinko commie anti capitalist rant I won’t get into, but that sort of thing isn’t allowed to happen in the good ol’ USA, or at least not in the whole country at once. Maybe in certain parts, but they better keep quiet about it.
says it’s 44-65k/yr for 911 dispatch. yeah, i would never want to do 911 dispatch. if you fuck up even one call, it could lead to someone’s death. plus, you get nonstop emergency calls the whole hour, every hour, for 8 straight hours. that’s fucking hard to take.
on the other hand, i have heard auto on some 911 operators that were dicks to ppl and delayed sending an ambulance leading to the death of ppl.
same for most hotlines, you screw up, someone is dead. Domestic violence, child abuse, suicide, eating disorders, it goes on and on, you miss a fatal risk someone dies, and that death will haunt you forever.
I just hate talking to people on the phone, always have. I thought when email came around most people would go to that, it’s easier, and you can edit and say what you mean, but nooooo some people still want you to call them…… some companies too, makes no sense to me, I can type three times faster than I can talk. Also you can always understand what I write, but my voice it’s 50/50 if I speak well enough and that takes way more work.