Art Ensminger — while many students do not know this name, his death left a lasting effect in the Baton Rouge community.
In 1969, Ensminger, the Student Government president, was one of six LSU students who committed suicide during the same semester.
After their deaths, a student and faculty committee created The Phone, a 24-hour crisis intervention, suicide prevention, information and referral service, said Annemeike Henson, a member of the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center training staff.
The Phone started as a hotline in the LSU infirmary, but soon after it started, the University realized there was a need in the community for the service also. It obtained funds, expanded and is located in the Crisis Intervention Center off College Drive, Henson said.
The Phone covers Baton Rouge and 10 surrounding parishes through funding from a $2 student fee, United Way and other private foundations and grants, she said. The phone also contracts with mental health centers in South Louisiana to answer patients’ after-hours calls, Henson said.
Henson, who has volunteered there since 1997, said only about 10 percent of the phone’s calls are suicide-related. Calls cover the entire range of human experience from relationship problems to depression and anxiety or coping with a particular event.
“There’s no one particular phone call because people are all different,” Henson said. “It depends on what the caller’s needs are at that time.”
Henson said usually a few students volunteer, but after sending a mass e-mail around LSU, the number of student volunteers increased.
Becky Braud, a biochemistry senior, started at The Phone in June 1999 after friends told her she gave good advice.
“I found out later we don’t give advice,” she said.
In crisis, people’s emotions are up and perceptions are skewed, Henson said, but volunteers do not give advice or opinions. Instead they listen, support the caller and allow them to make their own decisions.
Henson said this can be difficult, but volunteers go through a 60-hour training program to make it easier.
Because confidentiality is important to The Phone, Henson could not release trainee’s names, but everyone who applies to work there goes through a screening process, she said.
The Phone looks for people to be empathetic and non-judgmental, Henson said.
“People can come here without good listening skills, but we can teach them that,” she said.
Students interested in The Phone must contact the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, fill out an application and go through a screening process before training.
Training is offered three times a year in February, June and September. Each training class addresses different types of potential calls. Also, starting this month, the trainees will have mentors to give them suggestions and encouragement, Henson said.
Braud described the training process as a big retreat.
“Once you get to know everything about yourself, you can help someone else,” she said.
Volunteering is not as time consuming as many people think, Henson said. Volunteers are asked to sign a six-month commitment and are required to work 12 hours each month.
“We’re very flexible,” she said. “We want people to take a break when they need to.”
While the job may seem stressful, the center emphasizes self-care and awareness so volunteers do not “burn out,” Henson said.
The Phone has backup support that volunteers can call during or after a call for help. And, because of The Phone’s confidentiality policy, volunteers are not allowed to talk about callers to anyone, so when they leave, they leave work behind, Henson said.
Callers can recognize that people are genuine and want to be helpful, Braud said.
“You can hear something click in their voice,” Braud said. “I think it means more to a caller that we’re all just giving our time to be here.”
But sometimes the callers are the best encouragement.
“It’s really good to hear someone say at the end of a call, ‘You’ve helped me,'” Henson said.
Lauren Blanchard, a graduate student in social work, said she feels she is helping people every time.
“It may just have been talking to them when they had no one else to talk to or when they were trying to hurt themselves,” Blanchard said.
Volunteers also said helping others helps them in their lives outside The Phone. Braud said working at The Phone satisfied her desire for community service and the skills she learned will help her through college and afterward.
“It’s good for any college student to learn those skills,” Braud said. “They’ve changed me and help me to deal with school stress.”
Blanchard finished training in August 2002 and said the skills she learned gave her confidence in school.
“I went into school feeling like I knew more than everyone else because of the training,” said Blanchard, who after graduation possibly wants to work with grieving children.
And sometimes the experiences change lives on the receiving end of the call.
“One semester I had some extra time and decided to do it,” Henson said. “It ended up changing my life because I went back for my master’s in counseling.”
Braud said it has made her remember to smile at people because she doesn’t know what they’re going through. It also helped her grasp more abstract concepts about life.
“It’s made me realize how connected we are,” Braud said. “It puts things together in the big scheme of life. It reminds me what’s important.”
It’s also something she said she will miss after graduation.
“The thing I don’t look forward to in med school is I probably won’t be able to do this anymore,” Braud said. “It’s my little place in the world now. I’m going to miss it.”