Hotlines and Youth Culture Values
PAUL TOROP M.D.1, and
KAREN TOROP M.S.S.S.
1 Director of the Psychiatric Unit and practice of couple therapy, Undercliff Mental Health Center, Meriden, Conn. 06450
Hotlines represent a coalescence of the traditional and the counter-culture models of crisis intervention. Hotline staff members who are oriented toward counter-culture values tend to relate easily to callers in a nondirective, nonauthoritarian manner. But in their efforts to be accepting and informal, they have difficulty avoiding sadomasochistic entanglements with some chronic callers. Even though the younger volunteers tend not to be predisposed to seek professional supervision in learning to manage these difficulties, they are able to use such supervision effectively.
