After election, here’s what crisis hotlines in Washington saw

SEATTLE – In the early hours of Nov. 6, as it became clear that Donald Trump was poised to win his re-election bid for the presidency, the LGBTQ+ youth chat and text line for crisis line operator Volunteers of America began lighting up with calls and texts from teenagers.

The chat line saw nearly double the number of messages it normally gets during an eight-hour shift.

“The queue was backed up, people were waiting on hold,” said Stacie Simmons, a shift lead. “It pretty much started immediately, even in the graveyard hours. Kids were feeling a lot of uncertainty about what does this look like for the community, how will they be treated at school.”

Though Trump doesn’t take office for two months, election night clearly raised anxieties and fears for many Americans. In Washington, operators of some regional crisis lines say they saw a spike in calls in the days after Nov. 5, with the majority of callers expressing worry about the potential impacts of the election.

While an increase in calls can’t explicitly be tied to any one event, operators say many of the calls they’re taking are related to Trump’s promises to roll back rights for transgender Americans and conduct mass deportations of large numbers of undocumented immigrants.

Crisis Connections, which operates hotlines including 988 in King County, saw a 9% increase in calls the week after the election, compared to call volume in the month before.

Volunteers of America, which also has crisis line centers across Washington, didn’t see a major increase in call volume. But the number of people calling with election-related concerns spiked right after the election, operators said.

Izzy Engberg, a clinician who answers calls for Volunteers of America, said nearly every single call on Nov. 6 was related to the election.

“A lot of people were calling in crisis about that. They were overwhelmed, having anxiety about their families, how this will relate to them in the future,” Engberg said.

Nationally, crisis lines have seen even larger spikes in calls from LGBTQ+ youth with concerns about the new administration. The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, reported a 700% increase in calls to the hotline the day after the election. Zach Eisenstein, a spokesperson for the Trevor Project, said an estimated 30% of those callers were youths from communities of color, and more than 40% were transgender and nonbinary youths. Nov. 6, the day after the election, also marked the largest surge in daily calls since the Trevor Project began providing round-the-clock services in 2019, Eisenstein said.

“I think what (the election) did was create an increase in anxiety overall,” said Alice Nichols, the senior director of clinical operations for Crisis Connections. “Some are anxious for personal situations, and some are anxious just in this global sense – what will this election mean for our country?”

Volunteers of America and Crisis Connections increased their staff levels in anticipation of the election, and expect they may need to do so again as the inauguration approaches.

Crisis line responders do not share their political views with callers. Instead, their role is to listen, empathize with people and validate what they’re feeling.

Reid Johnson, a program manager for Volunteers of America, said many people who call may be from a family or a region that holds different political beliefs than they do, and they may not have another outlet to talk about their concerns.

“That’s a large part of what 988 call takers have experienced,” he said. “Finding a way to give people space to express what they’re feeling in a way that’s nonjudgmental, because they might not have that in the area they’re in.”

Johnson said the organization also makes sure it’s supporting its crisis line operators, as many may be going through the same things as the people they’re helping. That can mean letting people take mental breaks when they need to, or increasing staff to share the work.

Nichols said crisis line responders can also help people identify tools to get them through a difficult time – often things that may be at their disposal.

“A lot of times when we’re in distress we forget the resources we already have available to us,” Nichols said.

That can include reminding them of skills they’ve developed in the past, or encouraging someone to be politically active with whatever group they feel called to in order to find a productive outlet for their anxiety or distress. It can also include finding ways to de-stress like listening to music, playing a game, or taking a walk. Crisis line workers also help connect people to therapy and support groups.

Engman also urged people to remember that they can call 988 for any mental health concern – not just for emergency situations.

“I’d get a lot of people on election night who would start off their call saying, ‘I think a lot of people have bigger things going on than me,’ ” Engman said. “You don’t have to be escalated. Every crisis is valid.”