Thank You for Calling
Graduation Year
2014
Abstract
As Americans, we live in a culture that stigmatizes mental illness as moral weakness, characterizes psychological suffering as insanity, and encourages people to endure their pain in silence. For the past year, I have worked intimately with people in acute distress as an intern at PATH Crisis Center, where I answer incoming calls for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the primary hotline for suicide intervention. In “Thank You for Calling,” a collection of poetry and introductory critical preface, I explore the power of confessional poetry to give a voice to people who feel confined by shame and silence. By echoing my callers’ stark honesty and by reflecting upon my own years of depression and contemplated suicide, I engage with my work as a crisis line operator using a medium that allows me to creatively reexamine my lived experiences.
Recommended Citation
O’Connor, Colleen
(2014)
"Thank You for Calling,"
CrissCross: Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/crisscross/vol2/iss1/7
Comments
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