In 2016, operators of OC WarmLine, a free county-funded telephone service that provides emotional and mental health support, were surprised by the volume and tone of calls that came their way after the election of Donald Trump.
A lot of anger. A lot of tears.
Nobody saw it coming.
On Election Day itself, the phones were quiet, said Mariam Harris, WarmLine program director, who noted that during many big public events people spend time taking it in on live television.
But in the days and weeks that followed, people called in to vent.
Harris distinctly remembers a woman who cried bitterly, saying she’d invested much of herself into the campaign to elect Hillary Clinton. Conversely, others were emotionally damaged by the way the new president was being treated by his detractors.
Now, as Election Day 2020 arrives, the dynamics that made the 2016 election such a collective emotional trigger seem tame. This year, fears about polling place disruptions, challenged votes and the possibility of civic violence are widespread. And it’s all happening as we deal with stress of the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris anticipates that WarmLine staff and volunteers could face an onslaught of anger no matter who voters — or courts — decide should be next occupant of the Oval Office.
In recent days, WarmLine operators — known as “peer mentors” because they bring life experience to helping others manage their emotions — have taken an anger management session (on Zoom, naturally) specifically aimed at helping people keep it together through the 2020 Election.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Harris, who has overseen the WarmLine operation since it began a decade ago.
“So, we’re just getting ready.”
Anxiety is building
The anger management class emphasized that the peer mentors shouldn’t take what a caller says as a personal affront, or internalize it.
“They just have to listen,” Harris said. “The mentors know that, but we still need to teach that class.”
WarmLine is a non-emergency phone service operated by the National Alliance on Mental Health Orange County, informally known as NAMI-OC. Callers, who dial the toll-free number directly or are routed by crisis lines once it is determined they aren’t suicidal, are greeted by someone willing to listen. If it’s needed or desired, the callers are offered coping suggestions and guidance.
Some of the callers are regulars, dealing with a variety of mental health and behavioral disorder issues. Others are simply lonely. Many have called routinely over the years; some are new to the WarmLine, some calling from out of state or other places where there may not be a similar local service.
And this year, since the start of the pandemic, volume has skyrocketed. For October, statistics show WarmLine on track to take 8,000 calls, a nearly 30% increase from the same month last year.
This summer, seeing a growing need, county supervisors renewed the WarmLine contract and included additional funding. That’s allowed the phone service to hire more staff and expand to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for at least the first year of the three-year contract.
Since August, the WarmLine also has been the subject of a county-funded public service campaign called “What You Feel is Real,” to let county residents know the service is available to help.
The staff has been beefed up to more than 40 people, most working part-time as peer mentor, with four part-time supervisors to observe and help them out. The peer mentors typically have dealt with their own mental- and behavioral-health issues and bring experience and empathy to the job.
The WarmLine office in a small business park in Santa Ana exudes calm. The desk lamp lighting is kept dim, two couches are available for longer rests, and art — created by staff — adorns the walls. The walls also include written tips about how to set boundaries, be a good listener, and, as a reminder of the high stakes of each call:
“Your words matter. Your behaviors matter. Our callers and our team matter.”
Too much of everything
Since March, most WarmLine calls have dealt with pandemic-related anxieties — everything from health fears to economic woes.
People have called to describe feelings of isolation and depression and — most often — to express worries about their finances and possibly being evicted. The common messages include: “I’m out of work … I have very little savings … Where am I going to go … My unemployment check hasn’t come yet.”
Some question their religious faith. Others talk of the stress connected to what they hear and see obsessively in the news. When politics is on their minds, they often talk about the presidential debates, the handling of the pandemic (either too restrictive or too lax), the war of words on Facebook and other social media.
One caller said she felt stressed because she was being pressured by friends to vote for a certain candidate.
Some just want to vent, Harris said; others simply break down and cry.
There have been calls from staunch supporters of the Second Amendment who complain that liberals are going to take away their gun rights. The 2018 hearings on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court sparked another round of venting, again from both sides of the political divide.
This summer, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, callers talked about the pain of racially-motivated personal attacks. Others complained about who they referred to as “those people,” Harris said.
As with religion, WarmLine operators never initiate a discussion about politics. And if the caller does, Harris said, the rule is, as always, “you listen and you don’t judge.”
Typically, no more than five peer mentors are working the phones during any one shift, with a supervisor on hand to make sure everything is handled smoothly. Most work remotely from home, but some come into the WarmLine office in Santa Ana.
During at least the first week following Tuesday’s election, Harris plans to have perhaps as many as eight peer mentors available to handle calls. She wants operators to be able to take a break and not have to deal with back-to-back calls from angry people.
They’re human too, she pointed out.
There have been incidents where a caller’s political statement has prompted an edgy, “What do you mean?”
“Most of the peer mentors are great about it, they are not leaning right or left,” Harris said. “But the ones who are more activated, they have a more difficult time. The supervisors keep an eye out and debrief them afterward.”
Harris is certain the nonstop cycle of election news will drive up difficult calls in the coming weeks.
“Have you turned on the news? It’s scary. And our callers watch the news not one hour a day — they watch it all day long.”
Who to call?
The OC warmline is free and confidential and can be reached 24 hours a day at 877-910-WARM (9276). More information and an online chat option are available at namioc.org.
The county also has a list of resources, including smartphone apps and a suicide prevention hotline, at ocgov.com/covid.
Source: Orange County Register
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