November 13, 2025 • 34 mins
Imagine a three-digit lifeline that connects you to a real human who won’t hang up until a safety plan is in place. That’s 988. We sit down with Luke, executive director of the Arkansas Crisis Center, to unpack how this number works, why geo routing matters, and how local partnerships turn calls and texts into real-world support.
We explore the surge in help seekers—especially teens who increasingly choose text and chat—and what that means for training, staffing, and community education. Luke walks us through the six-week preparation for call counselors, the focus on reflective listening and de-escalation, and the tough but vital filters that make sure people are ready to do the work safely. We talk honestly about privacy, when dispatch becomes necessary, and the growing collaboration with law enforcement, firefighters, and EMTs through crisis intervention team training. You’ll also hear how simple awareness tactics—from student IDs to clean billboards—can move thousands to reach out sooner.
Arkansas is scaling support where it’s needed most: rural counties facing isolation and farm stress, and tribal communities seeking culturally informed care. We share updates on AR Teen Connect, a warm line built for youth by youth, designed to catch struggles upstream before they escalate. Along the way, we trade practical resilience tools—exercise, heat and cold exposure, stepping away—to show how coping skills and community care fit together. If you’ve ever wondered whether 988 is real, local, and effective, this conversation offers a clear, grounded yes, plus concrete ways to volunteer, train, sponsor, or simply share the number.
If this moved you, make a difference: share 988 with someone you love, follow the show for more candid conversations, and leave a quick review so others can find these resources. Your voice may be the nudge that saves a life.
If you are in a crisis or feel unsafe, call or text 988 or dial 911 for immediate support. There are people out there who will listen and can help.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Jessica G, and this is the Justin Time
Podcast.
If you're struggling today, Iwant you to know this podcast is
here for you, but it's not asubstitute for professional
help.
If you're in a crisis or feelingsafe, please call or text 988 or
dial 911 for immediate support.
There are people out there whowill listen and can help.
On this show, I'll be sharingpersonal experiences, mindset
(00:22):
shifts, talking with keyexperts, and sharing real tools
that help me go from barelysurviving to thriving.
This is not about quick fixes orone size fits all advice.
It's raw, it's honest, it's whatworked for me and what I believe
can help others too.
Let's walk together fromdarkness to hope.
(00:45):
Hello, hello.
Welcome back, everybody.
Thank you so much for joiningthe show.
Today we have the executivedirector of the Arkansas Crisis
Hotline, Luke C.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
Absolutely.
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
Awesome.
Can you tell us how you gotstarted with the Crisis Center?
SPEAKER_00 (01:02):
Oh, loaded question.
I like it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Um strong.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
Well, I made the jump um just about two years now
as the executive director forthe Arkansas Crisis Center.
Um premier uh experience hasbeen with the nonprofit space,
mainly fundraising.
He's with the American CancerSociety for about 10 years.
So um yeah, just pretty excitingstuff.
But uh I felt called to make themove to this organization.
(01:32):
I've had my own experiences umwith close relatives and people
that are near and dear to me.
Um and I felt called and uh feellike I can make a difference
right here in Arkansas on aday-to-day basis.
Um not to go too deep too soon,but lack of a better word, like
feel like this organization,like we do shit.
(01:54):
Can I cuss?
I'm not sure if I can cussright.
Like we we do shit.
You know, we're not focused onlike building a building or
whatever it is.
We want to serve help seekers,uh, for lack of a better term.
SPEAKER_01 (02:05):
So well, that's really awesome.
Um, I first heard about 988, Ithink, I don't know, maybe three
or four years ago.
unknown (02:13):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
Um you were early, early adapter then.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
Yeah.
When did it get started exactly?
SPEAKER_00 (02:18):
About three years ago.
So it was July 2022.
So you're you're must have beenearly adapter.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Well, I went with AFSP to advocate the state
capitol.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
That's right.
We love Jacqueline.
SPEAKER_01 (02:30):
She was on the show.
Yep.
Shout out to Jaclyn Sharp.
Um, so yes, I went with them uhto advocate for more funding.
We were looking for geo routing.
Um, I think you guys Which isthere, which is there.
SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
We go.
SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
It is there, yes.
Oh my gosh, that's exciting.
For those of you who don't knowwhat geo routing is, it's um,
for instance, like um issuicide's like the second
leading cause of death incollege students?
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
It's it's second leading cause of death in youth.
SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
In the youth.
Yes.
And and don't don't quote me onthe statistics, but I know it's
a high rate in yeah, yeah, it'sa high rate for um for college
students too.
And my brother Justin, he was incollege.
And uh 988 didn't exist backthen.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
No, they had the national hotline, but it was
like a really long number.
Yeah, it was that one song thatLogic made.
It was literally the course wasthe national suicide hotline.
Um, it needs to resonate andlike full disclosure, every
meeting or presentation that Ido that's public facing, yeah.
The first thing I ask is, howmany of you know what 988 is?
(03:30):
And no sub I know you know, no,no follow-up.
And I see the hands raise.
I would say it's about a thirdevery single time, outside of
like our echo chambers.
And that is terrible, frankly.
Um it's such a short numberwhere it's just like 911.
Whenever we were kids, you know,your mom or dad would leave and
they would say, if an emergencywhat happens, you say, call 911,
(03:51):
mom.
Well, guess what?
We need that same notion for ouryouth right here, right now,
frankly.
SPEAKER_01 (03:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's amazing.
And so geo routing is for like,say, college students out of
town, they're struggling andthey call that number.
Well, now, uh, because georouting is in place, they get
connected with local resources.
SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
Exactly.
Right.
So, like, so U of A students areeven like Bittenville, it's a
very transient company.
SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
Yeah, because it's on the back of every student ID,
right?
Yes.
And college students.
SPEAKER_00 (04:19):
College students, and then Bittenville School
District has it right on theback.
I mean other school district,yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
I was so happy to see that because I was like, I
was a part of that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:25):
Yeah, except it's funny.
My uh I have I have three kids,but my two older ones, they have
the student IDs, and uh likeGrayson will say, like, what did
your dad do?
Who I point to his ID and likemy dad does that, right?
Here I was like, oh, anyway.
SPEAKER_01 (04:37):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (04:38):
That's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
Well, and to your point, you know, at first 988
really wasn't out there.
Um, people are like trying tofigure out what is 988.
I haven't heard of 988.
Now that it is getting outthere, the crisis line is like
filling up, it's working.
Like, can you um enlighten us onthe progress that it's made in
the past couple of years?
Yeah, I mean I feel like nowthat people are knowing about
it, we need more support.
SPEAKER_00 (04:58):
Absolutely.
The crisis center needs moresupport.
I mean, the Arkansas CrisisCenter, we are in desperate need
of support um in in the best waypossible.
Because you know, people look atit when I tell people a a year
ago from today, we have tripledour help seekers per month.
So every month it's tripled whatit was a year over last.
And a big part of that has beentext and chat.
SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (05:20):
Um, but also we do uh calls as well.
SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
And more people are finding out about it now.
It is so they're utilizing it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:26):
So then we you need more resources.
Exactly.
So honestly, volunteer baseseems to be the shortcut.
Yeah, there's funding, butthat's super volatile.
And we're working reallydiligent on that, and we can get
to that um later for specifics.
But honestly, the volunteerbase, every single day I get two
or three people that want tohelp and want to reach out.
Um, it is a very um heavyservice.
(05:50):
And a lot of the weight duringpeople's crisis intervention our
call counselors bear.
And we have to be there tosupport our called counselors to
help the help seeker.
You know, it's almost like helpthe support the supporter if
that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:03):
So I think the biggest shortcut now, um, one is
obviously education, but like weneed volunteers to help man the
line as well.
So Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (06:12):
How does one go about that?
Like, do they to become atrained crisis counselor?
Yeah, it seems and whatqualifications you have for
that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:20):
Yeah.
So to be an actual staff, thestakes couldn't be any higher.
So I almost try to scare peopleout of it when they apply.
Um, because a lot of people doapply when we post the the
official jobs for callcounselors.
Right.
Um, I mean, honestly, it is anextensive six-week training
process.
Okay.
Um, there's some classroom time,there's, you know, um
(06:43):
apprenticeships, but mostimportantly, we kind of make the
final call with our directors.
Like, are they the right fit toprovide the best help possible?
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Right.
And is it also going to be safefor them?
And then can they mentallyhandle it?
Exactly.
On somebody that, for instance,like uh myself, um, I lost my
brother in 2017 and my dad.
And right away, you know, uh youwant to find a way to help to
make a difference, but you'renot really ready.
(07:12):
You know what I mean?
And so it's like I find I comeacross a lot of people that, you
know, have gone through loss andthey want to help, but sometimes
I have to say, like, hey, let'swait and let's get you helped
first and get you healed andgrounded to make sure that you
can handle this.
And that's what I did.
And that's why it took me solong to actually get to this
(07:32):
point today to even uh jump on apodcast and talk about it.
And you know, it was actuallyreally scary, but um yeah, I I
appreciate you sharing that andto interject.
SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
Like, I think we've had people reach out in that
similar situation where it'svery raw, and a lot of times, I
don't mean to from what we'veseen from evidence, is they kind
of go into savior mode.
Yeah.
That's not really what our callcounselors do.
Right.
But for 988, uh the hallmark issafety.
Yes, not trying to fix aproblem.
(08:04):
We are a crisis intervention,yes, and we need to get them the
help that they need.
So it's almost like a triage.
SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
And uh being a really good person on the line
helping somebody is being ableto quickly think on your feet,
de-escalate, have reflectivelistening, and find the perfect
safety plan for them so thatthey don't do the inedible.
SPEAKER_01 (08:26):
And I think the education, does AFSP provide
that education or we use a lotof their guidelines, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:32):
AFSP has immense amount of resources that are
national organizations.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
And they have a couple different programs.
Like I did talk save lives.
SPEAKER_00 (08:38):
Yeah, that's great.
That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
And then there's another one I saw on, I was
reading online.
SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
Project renewed for their schools, which is
fantastic.
And we're actually partneringwith them uh for our long or
long strategy, which would be ateen line that's a warm line.
Okay.
Um, that's called AR TeenConnect.
So like 988 is like beforethat's like 988 when
specifically youth reach out.
And I'll I want to plug thisreally quick.
Like 70% of everyone that textsus right now and does chats is
(09:06):
youth age in the state ofArkansas.
Um, the first three weeks oflaunching, we launched it in
February this year.
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
Okay, yeah.
I knew I knew that was new.
That's exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
It's amazing.
Because before it was going tothe national.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
I actually was uh playing around and utilizing it
too.
SPEAKER_00 (09:21):
So so straight up, like it was going to the
national backup, which is great.
But like we said earlier, likethe most important thing is our
Kansas answer line.
They provide the best care righthere internally.
Yes.
So what we saw is the firstthree weeks we served more youth
than all of 2024 combined.
Wow.
Um, I hate to put a statistic onit, but this is the statistic,
(09:41):
it has gone up 3,300% in youthengagement for 988 right here in
our own.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
And that number, so if you text it, you don't text
988, isn't it like 741?
SPEAKER_00 (09:50):
No, you text 988.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
You do text them.
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
You take your phone out, you literally say like
hello or hi or anything and do988.
You rank on your the level ofone through five, the urgency of
your suicidal ideations or yourcrisis intervention.
And then within under 90seconds, you're right there.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
I mean, we could do it right now and be connected,
and it's yeah, I was doing itearlier for a friend actually
that was going throughpostpartum depression.
And I couldn't remember the thelive Jacqueline and I our last
episode was about postpartumdepression.
And she had provided a resourceand I could not remember it
because it was a long number.
So I texted 988 and I said, Hey,I have a friend in need.
(10:28):
Can you get me the number sothey were probably able to do
that?
And I have it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:33):
See, triage, man.
It's a it's it's pretty much atriage.
SPEAKER_01 (10:36):
And that is so crucial, it's so important, you
know?
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (10:39):
Um so yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_00 (10:42):
Yeah, it's it's been a big resource, and you know, I
hate to quote a case study, butthe 988 term really seems to
land.
So, like we're we've been incontact with this place called
Comcare in Kansas City.
So it's equivalent to kind ofus.
And we were talking with them,and they did this case study
where they flooded the metroarea all surrounding the
(11:02):
downtown Kansas City area of988.
Super simplistic um billboards,and they saw their um intake go
up four figures substantially.
So it's one of those things thatdo resonate.
You could put it right here inthe background, and they it just
it's recognized, frankly.
Yes.
So for these youth, I mean, thenotion's still there.
(11:23):
Yeah, it's on the back of theirIDs, but you know, we still need
to go out there and like be inthose schools and educate them
and normalize it a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (11:32):
And it's come a long way, but we're scratching the
circuit.
We're scratching the circuit.
We gotta teach the teachers, wegotta train the counselors, and
yes, we're working diligently.
AFSP, us, NAMI, we're workingdiligently on uh on doing that.
SPEAKER_01 (11:44):
Yeah, no, I think it's really great work.
Um, I was super happy.
I mean, that is why I, you know,took time off work, flew to
Washington, DC.
I was I was, you know, talkingto the state representatives um
to get funding, more funding forthis.
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
Did you have a good time too?
My uh board president Josh.
SPEAKER_01 (12:01):
I absolutely loved it.
I was like, oh my goodness, thisplace is amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:04):
You walk in like, whoa, it's in it, yes.
Yes, but it's so vital to liketalk to lawmakers and like urge
them the urgency that we'redealing with.
I mean, all of them, Tom, I meanall those guys.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
Yeah, and they're in the no, you know, and so it was
it was great.
So I I stayed uh connected andI've messaged them back and
forth and stay on top of it.
Stay on top of it.
Yeah, it was it was it was myfirst time.
SPEAKER_00 (12:26):
And that's one of the perks like kicking it over
to AFSP is that like they havethe they tackle it on the
national level.
Yes.
Then they partner so greatlywith local nonprofits like us.
Yeah, they exactly that handlethe line and kick it over to us,
and I mean it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
Yeah.
Um, so each state has their owncrisis center, right?
Is that how 988 works?
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
Yes, that is correct.
So how it works is that eachstate is done a little bit
differently.
Here in the state of Arkansas,it 988 is a federal uh funded
program, not entirely by anymeans, but yeah the notion it's
I know we need more fundamental.
Yes, it's through it's throughSAMHSA, and then it trickles
down through the Department ofHealth, and we are subgrantees
from them.
(13:09):
So they are great to work with.
Um, it is ran through that.
Other states, though, it goesdirectly from SAMHSA to these
centers.
So, like Missouri, for example,has multiple centers that go
directly through SAMHSA.
So it is a little bit differenteverywhere, so there isn't like
a universal thing, but they havetrying to do a great job at
getting us all together forcollaborations and making sure
best practices are being upheld.
(13:30):
Um, but it they're all just alittle bit different too.
You know what I mean?
So, like for us, we don't justdo the 988 call because we're,
you know, there's more to bedone.
There's training, there'seducation.
There's oh yes.
SPEAKER_01 (13:41):
Speaking of education, I I was reading about
you.
What was the other andJacqueline told me she went
through this too?
It's a it's an intensive umworkshop that you went through.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Assist training.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
Yeah, what is it called?
SPEAKER_00 (13:53):
Yeah, it's assist.
Yeah, it's assist.
Um multiple factors.
They do host it quite a bit,though.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (13:59):
It's trying to um and how that was to like
physically help somebody out ofthe street.
SPEAKER_00 (14:04):
Yeah, yeah.
No, it's it's a great program.
Um, it is literally um a prettybig undertaking when you take
it.
It's it's it's intense.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
I heard it's it's intense, it's very good.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
And honestly, it's multiple organizations have the
power to put those on.
And honestly, it's it's a it's acollaborative.
So, like, for example, we havesome of those trainings where
someone from AFSP or the VA willput those things on.
But it is very commonplace forum suicide prevention.
And uh, you know, it is it ismassively important.
We do have those across thestate of Arkansas.
It is yeah, asking a lot ofsomeone to give uh two days
(14:35):
worth of time to to devote toschool time.
Yeah.
Um, but I mean, for like mystaff, for example, everyone
takes it.
SPEAKER_01 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
Uh a lot of school people take it.
We actually work with CampOregol as well.
Their camp counselors take itwith us and make sure that it's
on the level for reflectivelistening.
And there's a lot of role plays,and I know people hate role
plays, but like they're actuallyreally good in the way the
training setup is like you don'tfeel like it's a role play.
It's almost like a um um kind oflike the breakfast club.
Hate to say you kind of get inthere and talk about like how to
(15:05):
um um deal with crisis and bethere with them and sit in it
with them.
So it's a fantastic service.
And uh, you know, but I will saythis we do need to meet people
where they are.
So not everyone can give anentire two days to that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
Um, and and and I think when I was talking about
dragon, it's not right foreverybody.
And I think at the time that Istarted with AFSV, it wasn't
right for me either.
SPEAKER_00 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:28):
But now after reading about it, I was like,
maybe it's something I could donow.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (15:31):
I think that'd be great.
But I'm you know, there's otherones that are around.
We provide a couple ofcontinuing education classes
that are two hours, four hours.
We try to mash it to where thatperson is and willing to domain.
But at the same time, there aresome principal skills that are
essential, like reflectivelistening, de-escalation, um,
lingos that are really importantthat not the common person
(15:52):
knows.
Like I learned a lot of themcoming on board here.
Yeah.
Um, that I use on a day.
Not the psychology.
Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, fulldisclosure, like I'll I'll just
break it down for you.
Um I recently lost um actuallymy kid's grandma.
Um, it's it was my mom's grandmaa couple weeks ago.
It's actually we rescheduledthis podcast for that execution
scenario.
(16:13):
Um and you know, I've learned Iwas the one who had to break it
to my kids because their mom andstepdad had to leave town
quickly.
And uh it was their first senseof loss, and that is a crisis.
Yeah what I mean.
You had to hear them and reflecton them, and it's it's a form of
grief, and uh a lot of thoseskills really came in handy, and
(16:35):
uh you know it's it helps nomatter where you are outside of
the crisis intervention world.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Yeah, and speak thank you for sharing that.
Um and sorry for us.
Um and speaking of that, umthere are different um
categories within the crisishotline.
I was looking like there waslike drug abuse or drug or
alcohol and drug abuse.
What can you break down?
SPEAKER_00 (16:59):
Well, there's there's actual options.
So like um there was there um sowhen you call in now, you press
one for a Spanish, two for uhveterans.
There was a three.
Um they did go away with thatthis year.
That was the LGBT um LGBT line.
And then uh certain states haveoption four, which is tribal
(17:20):
members, actually.
Okay.
Um so tribal members is out ofwash, they have one in
Washington for sure, but someexciting news.
I don't mean to derail reallyquick, but we are actually
trying to get an option four inthe state of Arkansas because we
actually recently the uhAmerican Indian Center of
Arkansas um was actually havingtheir nine a day tribal out of
state down in Louisiana, but asof October 1st, we are handling
(17:43):
all their uh tribal member 98calls, which I mean last year
there was like over like 531calls from us from tribal
members right here in you knownorthwest Arkansas.
So um it's really important thatwe um, you know, provide
guidance and uh appropriatelingo for those uh those members
for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (18:03):
And you know, it's like even though the the calls
are going up, it's to me in mymind, it's like that's a good
thing because that means peopleare actually reaching out to get
the help that they need.
Yeah, I view it as a good thing.
I view it as a good thing.
What yeah, it's like what whatcan people do?
And I love that, you know, it'sprivate, it's anonymous.
SPEAKER_00 (18:21):
Yeah, um I I I want to say something to that.
And this is like we're seeingthis more so with the text and
chat via youth.
Number one thing we always getasked is are you AI?
World we live in.
Absolutely not.
No, right, right.
So um, and then number two, areyou gonna tell my parents?
Oh well.
And that's heavy.
(18:41):
And I the answer is no, we'renot gonna tell your parents.
The main thing that we careabout is safety.
That's our homework.
So guess what?
There are times where we'll haveto do a dispatch because if
there's an active or some safetyplan cannot be met, we do a
dispatch.
We try not to because it losesthe trust in the line.
And right, but at the same time,like not on our watch.
SPEAKER_01 (19:02):
We have to if somebody is in a crisis and it's
escalating, you know, but ourwe'll call 911.
SPEAKER_00 (19:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
And not even that, we'll stay init with them.
And then we have directors oncall that either with them but
also maintain safety.
And we always try to get theirconsent doing that.
And like I honestly, mepersonally, I was on I was
director on call last night.
I had one in Cross at Arca, Ihad one in in Arkansas that I
had to do, you know.
So I yeah, it's a very realthing, and I'm right there in
the trenches with everybody asthe executive director, and we
(19:29):
all take turns being directorson call.
And yeah, I'll tell you thisthere's uh I wouldn't say the
word rush, but my heart is juststarts fluttering and beating
when I get that phone call inthe middle of the night, yeah,
getting someone help that theyneed.
And yeah, it keeps me close tothe mission, and I realize it
wow, we we save a life in thatmoment.
(19:51):
Yeah, so it's um the dispatchpeople are getting better and
better at it and realizing whowe are and what we are.
You know, at first it was alittle clunk, like who are you
guys?
Like even the dispatchers forsome of the police departments
didn't quite know who we are,but we're starting to get some
synergy and some help from thetop for law enforcement and
having a coalition to get theword out.
So it's a whole different, wholedifferent thing for dispatches.
SPEAKER_01 (20:12):
That's great.
That's great.
Speaking of law enforcement, isthere like specific training
that you guys do with lawenforcement to help educate
them?
Yeah, we do because I could Icould see that or paramedics or
EMTs.
SPEAKER_00 (20:22):
We do, yeah.
We have actually a targeted uhcrisis intervention.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
For firefighters, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:26):
Yeah, and we have a couple of those board members on
our from the city of Rogers thatare on our board.
They're awesome.
They give us some goodperspective.
Yeah.
Um, shout out Steve, he'sawesome.
He trains actually the Rogers uhplace to market, they're
awesome.
Um, so what we do this year, wedo a continuing education crisis
intervention team training.
It's a full day, eight hours.
Yeah.
Um main thing.
One place that really foundvalue in it was actually the
(20:48):
North Little Rock PD.
You know that big bridge on theArkansas River that goes through
downtown?
They get those calls.
It's like a weekly kind ofthing.
SPEAKER_01 (20:56):
So have they put bridge barriers up there?
I I can't attest.
SPEAKER_00 (21:00):
I don't, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I don't want to answerthat.
I'm not quite sure.
No, that's okay.
It's good.
SPEAKER_01 (21:04):
Jacqueline and I were talking about that last
time and how you know you wantto remove lethal means.
And she was telling me, like,even though we don't want to
talk about the way in whichpeople die by suicide, she was
saying that like the bridgebarriers, um, there there was
some type of bridge close toLittle Rock that they put bridge
barriers up to the biggest.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
That is most likely that's the main one.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:22):
Yeah, reduce the suicide rate by 50% or
something.
Or 50 or 70%.
Don't quote me again.
SPEAKER_00 (21:26):
No, no, no.
I'm not the extra.
I mean, look at the Golden GateBridge.
I mean, that was a yeah, thatwas a very um it was almost a
symbolic one.
And now they put those nets andit's it's helped a lot for
daily.
So um, yeah, I think uh trainingthe law enforcement's huge.
Now I hate to say it, like inthose rooms when we were
training them, I was in, I wasin it when we did it.
Um, you know, a lot of thosepeople were, you know, they
(21:47):
didn't necessarily need it, butit was great to have a
refresher.
And I mean, much like everyother thing, from what they have
told me, law enforcement haskind of changed the last few
years, if that makes any sense.
Okay.
They're um there's differentapproaches that they're really
trying to do.
Um, you know, more so in themobile crisis aspect opposed to
the other kinds of ways.
So it's a it's an exciting time.
(22:07):
Um, but yeah, we definitely wantto train them and keep them up
to and then we also want tolearn from them too.
Like we want to learn from them.
We we we uh reach out to them,and like I said, we have board
members that are on our boardand we have um MOUs, which are a
memorium of understandings withuh police departments, and we
gotta have synergy with witheach other.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, what would you say um thatyou do to kind of protect
yourself?
Because you seem like anempathic person and you probably
are overseeing a lot ofdifferent things and people are
coming to you and answering alllike you're probably answering
all their questions.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
All of that.
And I know that can be like evenme as a business owner, I get
(22:46):
bombarded with a millionquestions.
But um, for me, I'm I, you know,do the nonprofit work, but
there's sometimes where Ihaven't like I'm so overwhelmed
I have to like step back and Ikind of have that space.
How how do you like handle allthat stress?
SPEAKER_00 (22:59):
You're talking to the wrong person.
Um I I uh you know man, I findhealing in in our growth.
You know what I mean?
I I'm kind of all in, like Ihaven't really taken a vacation
yet or anything, but I um Ireally want to focus like with
the livelihood in our the the umthe scope and well-being of our
call counselors, frankly.
(23:20):
Because I I I try to make it aseasy on them as I possibly can.
Does that make sense?
But me, I mean, honestly, if Igo do some like hardcore
kettlebell swings during theday, I feel whatever, uh, make
sure to.
I mean, I've been on this likefitness journey last three or
four months.
SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
Because it gets heavy.
SPEAKER_00 (23:35):
Yes, yeah, it does.
It does.
So I'm working trying to dobetter with that because I, you
know, there was a point whereyou know, my advice was to eat
and all that stuff, but like thelast few months I've been really
diligent on like swinging akettlebell, going on a run.
Yeah, stepping away.
Getting outside.
Yes.
Saunas are freaking great.
Um that season.
Parker and I were just talkingabout this on our last podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
We were talking about you do ice baths.
SPEAKER_00 (23:58):
Just yeah, I do.
I love ice.
SPEAKER_01 (23:59):
It's did you play football in college?
SPEAKER_00 (24:01):
Yeah, not in college, but high school.
In ice bath.
Yeah, high school.
But the worst part of the cokeland.
SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
Did you do ice baths?
SPEAKER_00 (24:05):
No, they did not.
So this is my first.
It's fun, I have a funny storyabout that.
So, so anyway, so okay, I'm abigger guy.
So, like, make sure if you'redoing it with a group of guys
taking turns doing the ice bath,the bigger guy goes last because
you get all the water out.
So, like, I was in Nashville,and like my best friend's in the
music industry, and like a fewof us were were going to this
(24:26):
some place that's kind of likeC-suites.
Yeah, and like I went second tolast, and like I'm straight up
in there and I go and I getwater all over everyone else,
and I hear this lady run down.
We got another one.
I'm like, ah, crap.
So anyway, and I get out andit's like pretty shallow at my
bag, guys.
So anyway, but it's it'sterrible.
SPEAKER_01 (24:43):
Well, I'm gonna be sure to invite you to our next
cold plunge event because we hadone for just in time.
Okay.
And um, we had Dr.
Justin Turnus like lead theevent, and we had the Marine
Corps there, we had the Navythere.
Is it just a dip in?
SPEAKER_00 (24:54):
What does that look like?
Does it dip in, dip out, or isit like the cold plunge?
SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
It's a it's like an inflatable thing, and then you
jump in, we just like keepfilling it up with ice and
water.
But it was so cool because itwas like we can overcome hard
things, and we use it as ametaphor.
Like, you know, when you're in asuicidal moment or a crisis,
it's temporary, just like thiscold water.
SPEAKER_00 (25:13):
And it's a good euphemism.
I like it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
Yeah, it was really cool.
And so, um, but yeah, we haveall the cold punches, so we
gotta probably maybe next yearwe might do the cold punching
back.
SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
Please, I will absolutely do.
I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
Yeah, we had all the resources we had on the
behavioral health center, AFSPwas there, so maybe we can get
you out there.
But the Marine Corps, they wereout there, they were like see so
serious about it.
It was like five minutes, theykicked it off.
I was like, someone's gotta getit.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
Was it five minutes that they do five minutes?
SPEAKER_01 (25:37):
Oh, I think they almost went ten.
SPEAKER_00 (25:39):
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01 (25:39):
Okay, yeah, I think they almost went ten.
SPEAKER_00 (25:41):
I will say though, like if in if you've done it,
I've done it, like you feel kindof euphoric for a while.
Yeah, it's amazing.
And I've done the thing wherelike you jump between the sauna
and it's it's phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01 (25:53):
That's awesome.
I love I love that you do that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
Yeah, it's supposed to reset your nervous system.
I guess it's better for guysthan it is for girls.
SPEAKER_00 (25:59):
Does it?
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
Oh, yeah, it's supposed to reset your nervous
system.
SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
They sit they say not to do the cold plunge uh
right after a lift, though,because it messes up.
SPEAKER_01 (26:07):
You don't want to shrink them off.
SPEAKER_00 (26:08):
Yes, that's exactly what it is.
SPEAKER_01 (26:09):
Do in the morning before, like Mark Wahlberg.
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (26:13):
Same podcast.
Anyway, same algorithm.
Anyway.
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
Exactly.
Um okay, so one of the otherquestions I had for you, I was
looking around on the site and Isaw that you could buy tickets
or there are sponsorships toshows.
Can you tell us about that?
Because I wasn't really sure.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
We do a couple things.
So I'll tell you what we didthis year and then the plan for
26.
So we actually did a kind ofoutside the box thing.
We could we had this uhfundraiser called The Last Laugh
in June, and it was down at JJ'sphenomenal show.
So it was a it was dark comedyfor a cause, and we had
Netflix's Beth Stelling comeheadline.
Yeah, um, Austin comic namedHunter Duncan.
(26:49):
Dude's hilarious.
And then we had a local Austinuh um Arkansas comic that's
Shelly Watson, and she does uhuh the Get Low by the Yin Yang
twins, but in opera, she's atrained opera singer.
Yeah.
So that was for the opener,which was That is awesome, and
that's where we kind of kickedoff our um youth campaign where
we're kicking off the AR Crisisuh team line.
(27:10):
Um, but it was a phenomenalevent.
JJ's Live.
I think it's Ozark band, it'sdip called something different
now.
Um but it at the time it wasJJ's Live.
SPEAKER_01 (27:17):
So you'd buy a ticket and it supported the
crisis line?
SPEAKER_00 (27:20):
100% us.
Yeah, absolutely.
So awesome.
And I mean, I'll be honest withyou, like the comics were
phenomenal.
It was we should, it was thetalent that we had here was
phenomenal.
So we are currently looking tobook another comic.
Yeah, but we're actuallypartnering with the Grove um
down in Lowell, right?
SPEAKER_01 (27:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
So that's what we're gonna have next year.
So Okay, comics out there.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (27:39):
Please reach out if Suicide Education Prevention is
free, reach out to us.
SPEAKER_00 (27:43):
Exactly.
So yeah, I'm gonna sign in someDMs, so hopefully we'll get
something.
Yes, absolutely.
Um, so yeah, we'll we'll we'regonna shoot for early 26 on that
one.
Okay.
And then we have the moretraditional fundraiser called
Challenge for Hope.
Okay.
Um, so what that is, it's a um,it's gonna be a uh tennis golf
tournament that's been aroundfor 35 years, and it's actually
recently come back to our umnonprofit, and it's over at
(28:06):
Pinnacle right across the streetfrom us, which is great.
Yeah.
And we're gonna do that inOctober 26th.
Okay.
That's more so the corporatesponsorship traditional route.
Yep.
Um, obviously we have the VIPparty and gala and all that good
stuff, but um, we have somephenomenal.
SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
Wait, when is the gala?
Where is the gala?
SPEAKER_00 (28:21):
It will be at Pinnacle, it will be at
Pinnacle.
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Okay, did so did you when's the first year you guys
had that?
SPEAKER_00 (28:26):
We the it came back to us last year, but it's been
it, it's been it used to benefitthe uh Boys and Girls Club and
the food bank.
So it's been around.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
But originally, I would love to like volunteer and
support and help bring awarenessto that because um I mean I've
been to a ton of galas, but Ihaven't heard of the Arkansas
Crisis Gala yet.
SPEAKER_00 (28:45):
Yeah, please, yeah, we're we're working on it.
And honestly, we're adding thegala aspect back to it.
It used to used to be a part ofit.
It used to call it Party of theTents.
Yes.
Kind of went away, but we'rerelaunching that aspect back to
it.
I'm I mean, it's very um it'svery useful because not everyone
plays golf or tennis.
So it kind of includes everybodyfor all the businesses.
So um, but yeah, we havecurrently some great support
(29:06):
with some good partners.
Uh I mean, Haribo right nextdoor to your donut.
I mean, it's it's phenomenal.
So, like General Mills, youknow, honorite chairs from
Walmart, it's it's fantastic.
So but definitely, definitelylooking to grow it and there's a
lot of room for opportunity.
Yeah, we are actually uhcurrently looking for some
additional tennis bros.
So we're kind of bringing themin to do the expos and stuff
(29:26):
like that.
So it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (29:28):
That would be awesome.
Maybe Justin Todd, we cancollaborate.
Yeah, dude, yeah.
We wanted to do one, but I feellike it would just make more
sense to collaborate with youand AFSP and do something
amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (29:38):
Yeah, and they do a great thing.
They do um out of darknesswalks, which is like a
peer-to-peer.
SPEAKER_01 (29:42):
Yeah, that was just this last weekend.
SPEAKER_00 (29:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's right.
So it's they're doing phenomenalthings there.
And uh, we always look tocollaborate for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (29:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, okay, so for our listeners,is there anything else that you
would like to tell them aboutthe crisis hotline um that you
can think of right now?
SPEAKER_00 (29:59):
Yeah, there's a couple.
things um one really excitingthing that i've not mentioned is
that we recently got a uh influxin support by the department of
health um it is to focus on the45 rural counties in the state
of Arkansas okay great the wordout so every nook and cranny in
this state that is desperatelyin need of our service we have
(30:20):
the funding and the resources toget out there and teach them
about not just nine and eightnot just the text and chat but
more so suicide preventiontrainings starting with why
making it less taboo giving themthe resources they desperately
need we actually just hired aguy um his name's Dale Fuchs and
he's awesome he's from PerthAustralia yeah started a couple
(30:42):
coffee shops down there uh wasactually in the air force here
recently here um he's looking toget out there and get in these
communities and with us and as ateam and yeah get out there and
and coach them that's amazingabout the rural thing because
when I was in the Capitol inSenator Bozeman's office he
asked me if I knew anythingabout the farmer's bill and I
didn't know what he was talkingabout.
SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
And he had informed me that suicide rate in farmers
was actually going up.
So he had asked me that questionum you know what what is the
crisis line doing in the ruralparts of Arkansas?
SPEAKER_00 (31:16):
So that is really great to hear because sorry this
isn't last year it was the yearbefore that I went for two years
yeah yeah two years ago now yeahso I'm really happy to hear that
that yeah that's that that'sprobably the response from what
he was saying is that theadditional funding for the
support and transportation.
SPEAKER_01 (31:29):
That is awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (31:30):
Yes we're excited about that and then uh fall this
year so next month or so we'regonna be launching the AR AR
Team Connect.
So that is like I said that is anon not non-crisis but a warm
friendship line line ran foryouth by youth via text.
So it's ran by youth for youthand it's actually kind of a cool
story.
It's actually being built builtby youth too.
(31:51):
So we have a youth board andwe've collaborated with like how
old?
I mean high school high schooland college high school okay so
they're like deep into AIthey're building the platform
and the sites and it's going tolive in our space and we're
immensely excited about it.
And it's a continuum of caretoo.
So like once we have a safe planfrom these youth and safety's
established, you know they maynot want to call 988 again or
(32:12):
text 988.
So this one is like they'refriendly but not friends.
They're there for them in a waywhere we tackle it upstream like
so what they can reach back outafter they've already continued
too at the same time so likeit's to the same person?
It's more so just different.
It's it's anonymous foranonymous yeah it's anonymous
(32:34):
but it's ran for youth so like Imean like so if someone were to
say like man I'm feeling kind ofsad today they have someone to
reach out to or no one noticedme today.
No one said hi they have someoneto reach out to or I'm well
that's great that those youthmembers are are getting educated
too because then that just keepsspreading well I hate to say it
but like it also for the for theperson answering the text it
(32:55):
teaches resilience andinterpersonal communication.
So there's skin in the game forboth there's people that were
helping then the volunteersthey're people that are building
life skills that that I would beusing today for exactly so um
but yeah but AFSP was sogenerous and letting us um
letting us kind of um uh utilizeshop at their out of darkness
(33:17):
walks this last spring.
Okay.
So we have a pretty goodvolunteer base and it's it's
phenomenal so we're ready towe're getting ready to launch
and uh yeah it's gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01 (33:25):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (33:26):
Um what time next year are you having your the
gala will be October so you'reit's gonna be October yeah so it
was August last year.
Okay.
Uh obviously super hot it'swe're we're excited about having
it uh in October exactly we'regonna have it like I want to
wear a suit and black sweatexactly so we're gonna um we're
gonna have that after their LPGAevent over at Pentacles okay
that is amazing it's gonna beawesome it's gonna be good so
(33:47):
but yeah um but at the end ofthe day my last thing is is just
knowing that there is a resourceout there yeah it's three digits
nine eight dates and we're here24 hours seven days a week and
uh you know we will never hangup the phone unless we feel like
safety's been met.
SPEAKER_01 (34:04):
Awesome well thank you so much Luke we are so happy
to have you here and join meappreciate it thank you so much
appreciate it if you'restruggling remember how you
think is how you feel if yourfeelings feel heavy start by
shifting the thought you're notstuck your brain can change so
can your story.
I'm Jessica G.
This is the Justin Time podcastand I'll see you next time.
(34:25):
Until then keep going never giveup and remember the world is
better with you in it whetheryou believe it or not to help
reach others please share thiswith your friends family and
don't forget to like subscribeand donate
Hi, I'm Jessica G, and this is the Justin Time
Podcast.
If you're struggling today, Iwant you to know this podcast is
here for you, but it's not asubstitute for professional
help.
If you're in a crisis or feelingsafe, please call or text 988 or
dial 911 for immediate support.
There are people out there whowill listen and can help.
On this show, I'll be sharingpersonal experiences, mindset
(00:22):
shifts, talking with keyexperts, and sharing real tools
that help me go from barelysurviving to thriving.
This is not about quick fixes orone size fits all advice.
It's raw, it's honest, it's whatworked for me and what I believe
can help others too.
Let's walk together fromdarkness to hope.
(00:45):
Hello, hello.
Welcome back, everybody.
Thank you so much for joiningthe show.
Today we have the executivedirector of the Arkansas Crisis
Hotline, Luke C.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
Absolutely.
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
Awesome.
Can you tell us how you gotstarted with the Crisis Center?
SPEAKER_00 (01:02):
Oh, loaded question.
I like it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Um strong.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
Well, I made the jump um just about two years now
as the executive director forthe Arkansas Crisis Center.
Um premier uh experience hasbeen with the nonprofit space,
mainly fundraising.
He's with the American CancerSociety for about 10 years.
So um yeah, just pretty excitingstuff.
But uh I felt called to make themove to this organization.
(01:32):
I've had my own experiences umwith close relatives and people
that are near and dear to me.
Um and I felt called and uh feellike I can make a difference
right here in Arkansas on aday-to-day basis.
Um not to go too deep too soon,but lack of a better word, like
feel like this organization,like we do shit.
(01:54):
Can I cuss?
I'm not sure if I can cussright.
Like we we do shit.
You know, we're not focused onlike building a building or
whatever it is.
We want to serve help seekers,uh, for lack of a better term.
SPEAKER_01 (02:05):
So well, that's really awesome.
Um, I first heard about 988, Ithink, I don't know, maybe three
or four years ago.
unknown (02:13):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
Um you were early, early adapter then.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
Yeah.
When did it get started exactly?
SPEAKER_00 (02:18):
About three years ago.
So it was July 2022.
So you're you're must have beenearly adapter.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Well, I went with AFSP to advocate the state
capitol.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
That's right.
We love Jacqueline.
SPEAKER_01 (02:30):
She was on the show.
Yep.
Shout out to Jaclyn Sharp.
Um, so yes, I went with them uhto advocate for more funding.
We were looking for geo routing.
Um, I think you guys Which isthere, which is there.
SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
We go.
SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
It is there, yes.
Oh my gosh, that's exciting.
For those of you who don't knowwhat geo routing is, it's um,
for instance, like um issuicide's like the second
leading cause of death incollege students?
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
It's it's second leading cause of death in youth.
SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
In the youth.
Yes.
And and don't don't quote me onthe statistics, but I know it's
a high rate in yeah, yeah, it'sa high rate for um for college
students too.
And my brother Justin, he was incollege.
And uh 988 didn't exist backthen.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
No, they had the national hotline, but it was
like a really long number.
Yeah, it was that one song thatLogic made.
It was literally the course wasthe national suicide hotline.
Um, it needs to resonate andlike full disclosure, every
meeting or presentation that Ido that's public facing, yeah.
The first thing I ask is, howmany of you know what 988 is?
(03:30):
And no sub I know you know, no,no follow-up.
And I see the hands raise.
I would say it's about a thirdevery single time, outside of
like our echo chambers.
And that is terrible, frankly.
Um it's such a short numberwhere it's just like 911.
Whenever we were kids, you know,your mom or dad would leave and
they would say, if an emergencywhat happens, you say, call 911,
(03:51):
mom.
Well, guess what?
We need that same notion for ouryouth right here, right now,
frankly.
SPEAKER_01 (03:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's amazing.
And so geo routing is for like,say, college students out of
town, they're struggling andthey call that number.
Well, now, uh, because georouting is in place, they get
connected with local resources.
SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
Exactly.
Right.
So, like, so U of A students areeven like Bittenville, it's a
very transient company.
SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
Yeah, because it's on the back of every student ID,
right?
Yes.
And college students.
SPEAKER_00 (04:19):
College students, and then Bittenville School
District has it right on theback.
I mean other school district,yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
I was so happy to see that because I was like, I
was a part of that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:25):
Yeah, except it's funny.
My uh I have I have three kids,but my two older ones, they have
the student IDs, and uh likeGrayson will say, like, what did
your dad do?
Who I point to his ID and likemy dad does that, right?
Here I was like, oh, anyway.
SPEAKER_01 (04:37):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (04:38):
That's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
Well, and to your point, you know, at first 988
really wasn't out there.
Um, people are like trying tofigure out what is 988.
I haven't heard of 988.
Now that it is getting outthere, the crisis line is like
filling up, it's working.
Like, can you um enlighten us onthe progress that it's made in
the past couple of years?
Yeah, I mean I feel like nowthat people are knowing about
it, we need more support.
SPEAKER_00 (04:58):
Absolutely.
The crisis center needs moresupport.
I mean, the Arkansas CrisisCenter, we are in desperate need
of support um in in the best waypossible.
Because you know, people look atit when I tell people a a year
ago from today, we have tripledour help seekers per month.
So every month it's tripled whatit was a year over last.
And a big part of that has beentext and chat.
SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (05:20):
Um, but also we do uh calls as well.
SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
And more people are finding out about it now.
It is so they're utilizing it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:26):
So then we you need more resources.
Exactly.
So honestly, volunteer baseseems to be the shortcut.
Yeah, there's funding, butthat's super volatile.
And we're working reallydiligent on that, and we can get
to that um later for specifics.
But honestly, the volunteerbase, every single day I get two
or three people that want tohelp and want to reach out.
Um, it is a very um heavyservice.
(05:50):
And a lot of the weight duringpeople's crisis intervention our
call counselors bear.
And we have to be there tosupport our called counselors to
help the help seeker.
You know, it's almost like helpthe support the supporter if
that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:03):
So I think the biggest shortcut now, um, one is
obviously education, but like weneed volunteers to help man the
line as well.
So Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (06:12):
How does one go about that?
Like, do they to become atrained crisis counselor?
Yeah, it seems and whatqualifications you have for
that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:20):
Yeah.
So to be an actual staff, thestakes couldn't be any higher.
So I almost try to scare peopleout of it when they apply.
Um, because a lot of people doapply when we post the the
official jobs for callcounselors.
Right.
Um, I mean, honestly, it is anextensive six-week training
process.
Okay.
Um, there's some classroom time,there's, you know, um
(06:43):
apprenticeships, but mostimportantly, we kind of make the
final call with our directors.
Like, are they the right fit toprovide the best help possible?
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Right.
And is it also going to be safefor them?
And then can they mentallyhandle it?
Exactly.
On somebody that, for instance,like uh myself, um, I lost my
brother in 2017 and my dad.
And right away, you know, uh youwant to find a way to help to
make a difference, but you'renot really ready.
(07:12):
You know what I mean?
And so it's like I find I comeacross a lot of people that, you
know, have gone through loss andthey want to help, but sometimes
I have to say, like, hey, let'swait and let's get you helped
first and get you healed andgrounded to make sure that you
can handle this.
And that's what I did.
And that's why it took me solong to actually get to this
(07:32):
point today to even uh jump on apodcast and talk about it.
And you know, it was actuallyreally scary, but um yeah, I I
appreciate you sharing that andto interject.
SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
Like, I think we've had people reach out in that
similar situation where it'svery raw, and a lot of times, I
don't mean to from what we'veseen from evidence, is they kind
of go into savior mode.
Yeah.
That's not really what our callcounselors do.
Right.
But for 988, uh the hallmark issafety.
Yes, not trying to fix aproblem.
(08:04):
We are a crisis intervention,yes, and we need to get them the
help that they need.
So it's almost like a triage.
SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
And uh being a really good person on the line
helping somebody is being ableto quickly think on your feet,
de-escalate, have reflectivelistening, and find the perfect
safety plan for them so thatthey don't do the inedible.
SPEAKER_01 (08:26):
And I think the education, does AFSP provide
that education or we use a lotof their guidelines, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:32):
AFSP has immense amount of resources that are
national organizations.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
And they have a couple different programs.
Like I did talk save lives.
SPEAKER_00 (08:38):
Yeah, that's great.
That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
And then there's another one I saw on, I was
reading online.
SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
Project renewed for their schools, which is
fantastic.
And we're actually partneringwith them uh for our long or
long strategy, which would be ateen line that's a warm line.
Okay.
Um, that's called AR TeenConnect.
So like 988 is like beforethat's like 988 when
specifically youth reach out.
And I'll I want to plug thisreally quick.
Like 70% of everyone that textsus right now and does chats is
(09:06):
youth age in the state ofArkansas.
Um, the first three weeks oflaunching, we launched it in
February this year.
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
Okay, yeah.
I knew I knew that was new.
That's exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
It's amazing.
Because before it was going tothe national.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
I actually was uh playing around and utilizing it
too.
SPEAKER_00 (09:21):
So so straight up, like it was going to the
national backup, which is great.
But like we said earlier, likethe most important thing is our
Kansas answer line.
They provide the best care righthere internally.
Yes.
So what we saw is the firstthree weeks we served more youth
than all of 2024 combined.
Wow.
Um, I hate to put a statistic onit, but this is the statistic,
(09:41):
it has gone up 3,300% in youthengagement for 988 right here in
our own.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
And that number, so if you text it, you don't text
988, isn't it like 741?
SPEAKER_00 (09:50):
No, you text 988.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
You do text them.
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
You take your phone out, you literally say like
hello or hi or anything and do988.
You rank on your the level ofone through five, the urgency of
your suicidal ideations or yourcrisis intervention.
And then within under 90seconds, you're right there.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
I mean, we could do it right now and be connected,
and it's yeah, I was doing itearlier for a friend actually
that was going throughpostpartum depression.
And I couldn't remember the thelive Jacqueline and I our last
episode was about postpartumdepression.
And she had provided a resourceand I could not remember it
because it was a long number.
So I texted 988 and I said, Hey,I have a friend in need.
(10:28):
Can you get me the number sothey were probably able to do
that?
And I have it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:33):
See, triage, man.
It's a it's it's pretty much atriage.
SPEAKER_01 (10:36):
And that is so crucial, it's so important, you
know?
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (10:39):
Um so yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_00 (10:42):
Yeah, it's it's been a big resource, and you know, I
hate to quote a case study, butthe 988 term really seems to
land.
So, like we're we've been incontact with this place called
Comcare in Kansas City.
So it's equivalent to kind ofus.
And we were talking with them,and they did this case study
where they flooded the metroarea all surrounding the
(11:02):
downtown Kansas City area of988.
Super simplistic um billboards,and they saw their um intake go
up four figures substantially.
So it's one of those things thatdo resonate.
You could put it right here inthe background, and they it just
it's recognized, frankly.
Yes.
So for these youth, I mean, thenotion's still there.
(11:23):
Yeah, it's on the back of theirIDs, but you know, we still need
to go out there and like be inthose schools and educate them
and normalize it a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (11:32):
And it's come a long way, but we're scratching the
circuit.
We're scratching the circuit.
We gotta teach the teachers, wegotta train the counselors, and
yes, we're working diligently.
AFSP, us, NAMI, we're workingdiligently on uh on doing that.
SPEAKER_01 (11:44):
Yeah, no, I think it's really great work.
Um, I was super happy.
I mean, that is why I, you know,took time off work, flew to
Washington, DC.
I was I was, you know, talkingto the state representatives um
to get funding, more funding forthis.
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
Did you have a good time too?
My uh board president Josh.
SPEAKER_01 (12:01):
I absolutely loved it.
I was like, oh my goodness, thisplace is amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:04):
You walk in like, whoa, it's in it, yes.
Yes, but it's so vital to liketalk to lawmakers and like urge
them the urgency that we'redealing with.
I mean, all of them, Tom, I meanall those guys.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
Yeah, and they're in the no, you know, and so it was
it was great.
So I I stayed uh connected andI've messaged them back and
forth and stay on top of it.
Stay on top of it.
Yeah, it was it was it was myfirst time.
SPEAKER_00 (12:26):
And that's one of the perks like kicking it over
to AFSP is that like they havethe they tackle it on the
national level.
Yes.
Then they partner so greatlywith local nonprofits like us.
Yeah, they exactly that handlethe line and kick it over to us,
and I mean it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
Yeah.
Um, so each state has their owncrisis center, right?
Is that how 988 works?
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
Yes, that is correct.
So how it works is that eachstate is done a little bit
differently.
Here in the state of Arkansas,it 988 is a federal uh funded
program, not entirely by anymeans, but yeah the notion it's
I know we need more fundamental.
Yes, it's through it's throughSAMHSA, and then it trickles
down through the Department ofHealth, and we are subgrantees
from them.
(13:09):
So they are great to work with.
Um, it is ran through that.
Other states, though, it goesdirectly from SAMHSA to these
centers.
So, like Missouri, for example,has multiple centers that go
directly through SAMHSA.
So it is a little bit differenteverywhere, so there isn't like
a universal thing, but they havetrying to do a great job at
getting us all together forcollaborations and making sure
best practices are being upheld.
(13:30):
Um, but it they're all just alittle bit different too.
You know what I mean?
So, like for us, we don't justdo the 988 call because we're,
you know, there's more to bedone.
There's training, there'seducation.
There's oh yes.
SPEAKER_01 (13:41):
Speaking of education, I I was reading about
you.
What was the other andJacqueline told me she went
through this too?
It's a it's an intensive umworkshop that you went through.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Assist training.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
Yeah, what is it called?
SPEAKER_00 (13:53):
Yeah, it's assist.
Yeah, it's assist.
Um multiple factors.
They do host it quite a bit,though.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (13:59):
It's trying to um and how that was to like
physically help somebody out ofthe street.
SPEAKER_00 (14:04):
Yeah, yeah.
No, it's it's a great program.
Um, it is literally um a prettybig undertaking when you take
it.
It's it's it's intense.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
I heard it's it's intense, it's very good.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
And honestly, it's multiple organizations have the
power to put those on.
And honestly, it's it's a it's acollaborative.
So, like, for example, we havesome of those trainings where
someone from AFSP or the VA willput those things on.
But it is very commonplace forum suicide prevention.
And uh, you know, it is it ismassively important.
We do have those across thestate of Arkansas.
It is yeah, asking a lot ofsomeone to give uh two days
(14:35):
worth of time to to devote toschool time.
Yeah.
Um, but I mean, for like mystaff, for example, everyone
takes it.
SPEAKER_01 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
Uh a lot of school people take it.
We actually work with CampOregol as well.
Their camp counselors take itwith us and make sure that it's
on the level for reflectivelistening.
And there's a lot of role plays,and I know people hate role
plays, but like they're actuallyreally good in the way the
training setup is like you don'tfeel like it's a role play.
It's almost like a um um kind oflike the breakfast club.
Hate to say you kind of get inthere and talk about like how to
(15:05):
um um deal with crisis and bethere with them and sit in it
with them.
So it's a fantastic service.
And uh, you know, but I will saythis we do need to meet people
where they are.
So not everyone can give anentire two days to that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
Um, and and and I think when I was talking about
dragon, it's not right foreverybody.
And I think at the time that Istarted with AFSV, it wasn't
right for me either.
SPEAKER_00 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:28):
But now after reading about it, I was like,
maybe it's something I could donow.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (15:31):
I think that'd be great.
But I'm you know, there's otherones that are around.
We provide a couple ofcontinuing education classes
that are two hours, four hours.
We try to mash it to where thatperson is and willing to domain.
But at the same time, there aresome principal skills that are
essential, like reflectivelistening, de-escalation, um,
lingos that are really importantthat not the common person
(15:52):
knows.
Like I learned a lot of themcoming on board here.
Yeah.
Um, that I use on a day.
Not the psychology.
Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, fulldisclosure, like I'll I'll just
break it down for you.
Um I recently lost um actuallymy kid's grandma.
Um, it's it was my mom's grandmaa couple weeks ago.
It's actually we rescheduledthis podcast for that execution
scenario.
(16:13):
Um and you know, I've learned Iwas the one who had to break it
to my kids because their mom andstepdad had to leave town
quickly.
And uh it was their first senseof loss, and that is a crisis.
Yeah what I mean.
You had to hear them and reflecton them, and it's it's a form of
grief, and uh a lot of thoseskills really came in handy, and
(16:35):
uh you know it's it helps nomatter where you are outside of
the crisis intervention world.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Yeah, and speak thank you for sharing that.
Um and sorry for us.
Um and speaking of that, umthere are different um
categories within the crisishotline.
I was looking like there waslike drug abuse or drug or
alcohol and drug abuse.
What can you break down?
SPEAKER_00 (16:59):
Well, there's there's actual options.
So like um there was there um sowhen you call in now, you press
one for a Spanish, two for uhveterans.
There was a three.
Um they did go away with thatthis year.
That was the LGBT um LGBT line.
And then uh certain states haveoption four, which is tribal
(17:20):
members, actually.
Okay.
Um so tribal members is out ofwash, they have one in
Washington for sure, but someexciting news.
I don't mean to derail reallyquick, but we are actually
trying to get an option four inthe state of Arkansas because we
actually recently the uhAmerican Indian Center of
Arkansas um was actually havingtheir nine a day tribal out of
state down in Louisiana, but asof October 1st, we are handling
(17:43):
all their uh tribal member 98calls, which I mean last year
there was like over like 531calls from us from tribal
members right here in you knownorthwest Arkansas.
So um it's really important thatwe um, you know, provide
guidance and uh appropriatelingo for those uh those members
for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (18:03):
And you know, it's like even though the the calls
are going up, it's to me in mymind, it's like that's a good
thing because that means peopleare actually reaching out to get
the help that they need.
Yeah, I view it as a good thing.
I view it as a good thing.
What yeah, it's like what whatcan people do?
And I love that, you know, it'sprivate, it's anonymous.
SPEAKER_00 (18:21):
Yeah, um I I I want to say something to that.
And this is like we're seeingthis more so with the text and
chat via youth.
Number one thing we always getasked is are you AI?
World we live in.
Absolutely not.
No, right, right.
So um, and then number two, areyou gonna tell my parents?
Oh well.
And that's heavy.
(18:41):
And I the answer is no, we'renot gonna tell your parents.
The main thing that we careabout is safety.
That's our homework.
So guess what?
There are times where we'll haveto do a dispatch because if
there's an active or some safetyplan cannot be met, we do a
dispatch.
We try not to because it losesthe trust in the line.
And right, but at the same time,like not on our watch.
SPEAKER_01 (19:02):
We have to if somebody is in a crisis and it's
escalating, you know, but ourwe'll call 911.
SPEAKER_00 (19:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
And not even that, we'll stay init with them.
And then we have directors oncall that either with them but
also maintain safety.
And we always try to get theirconsent doing that.
And like I honestly, mepersonally, I was on I was
director on call last night.
I had one in Cross at Arca, Ihad one in in Arkansas that I
had to do, you know.
So I yeah, it's a very realthing, and I'm right there in
the trenches with everybody asthe executive director, and we
(19:29):
all take turns being directorson call.
And yeah, I'll tell you thisthere's uh I wouldn't say the
word rush, but my heart is juststarts fluttering and beating
when I get that phone call inthe middle of the night, yeah,
getting someone help that theyneed.
And yeah, it keeps me close tothe mission, and I realize it
wow, we we save a life in thatmoment.
(19:51):
Yeah, so it's um the dispatchpeople are getting better and
better at it and realizing whowe are and what we are.
You know, at first it was alittle clunk, like who are you
guys?
Like even the dispatchers forsome of the police departments
didn't quite know who we are,but we're starting to get some
synergy and some help from thetop for law enforcement and
having a coalition to get theword out.
So it's a whole different, wholedifferent thing for dispatches.
SPEAKER_01 (20:12):
That's great.
That's great.
Speaking of law enforcement, isthere like specific training
that you guys do with lawenforcement to help educate
them?
Yeah, we do because I could Icould see that or paramedics or
EMTs.
SPEAKER_00 (20:22):
We do, yeah.
We have actually a targeted uhcrisis intervention.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
For firefighters, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:26):
Yeah, and we have a couple of those board members on
our from the city of Rogers thatare on our board.
They're awesome.
They give us some goodperspective.
Yeah.
Um, shout out Steve, he'sawesome.
He trains actually the Rogers uhplace to market, they're
awesome.
Um, so what we do this year, wedo a continuing education crisis
intervention team training.
It's a full day, eight hours.
Yeah.
Um main thing.
One place that really foundvalue in it was actually the
(20:48):
North Little Rock PD.
You know that big bridge on theArkansas River that goes through
downtown?
They get those calls.
It's like a weekly kind ofthing.
SPEAKER_01 (20:56):
So have they put bridge barriers up there?
I I can't attest.
SPEAKER_00 (21:00):
I don't, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I don't want to answerthat.
I'm not quite sure.
No, that's okay.
It's good.
SPEAKER_01 (21:04):
Jacqueline and I were talking about that last
time and how you know you wantto remove lethal means.
And she was telling me, like,even though we don't want to
talk about the way in whichpeople die by suicide, she was
saying that like the bridgebarriers, um, there there was
some type of bridge close toLittle Rock that they put bridge
barriers up to the biggest.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
That is most likely that's the main one.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:22):
Yeah, reduce the suicide rate by 50% or
something.
Or 50 or 70%.
Don't quote me again.
SPEAKER_00 (21:26):
No, no, no.
I'm not the extra.
I mean, look at the Golden GateBridge.
I mean, that was a yeah, thatwas a very um it was almost a
symbolic one.
And now they put those nets andit's it's helped a lot for
daily.
So um, yeah, I think uh trainingthe law enforcement's huge.
Now I hate to say it, like inthose rooms when we were
training them, I was in, I wasin it when we did it.
Um, you know, a lot of thosepeople were, you know, they
(21:47):
didn't necessarily need it, butit was great to have a
refresher.
And I mean, much like everyother thing, from what they have
told me, law enforcement haskind of changed the last few
years, if that makes any sense.
Okay.
They're um there's differentapproaches that they're really
trying to do.
Um, you know, more so in themobile crisis aspect opposed to
the other kinds of ways.
So it's a it's an exciting time.
(22:07):
Um, but yeah, we definitely wantto train them and keep them up
to and then we also want tolearn from them too.
Like we want to learn from them.
We we we uh reach out to them,and like I said, we have board
members that are on our boardand we have um MOUs, which are a
memorium of understandings withuh police departments, and we
gotta have synergy with witheach other.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, what would you say um thatyou do to kind of protect
yourself?
Because you seem like anempathic person and you probably
are overseeing a lot ofdifferent things and people are
coming to you and answering alllike you're probably answering
all their questions.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
All of that.
And I know that can be like evenme as a business owner, I get
(22:46):
bombarded with a millionquestions.
But um, for me, I'm I, you know,do the nonprofit work, but
there's sometimes where Ihaven't like I'm so overwhelmed
I have to like step back and Ikind of have that space.
How how do you like handle allthat stress?
SPEAKER_00 (22:59):
You're talking to the wrong person.
Um I I uh you know man, I findhealing in in our growth.
You know what I mean?
I I'm kind of all in, like Ihaven't really taken a vacation
yet or anything, but I um Ireally want to focus like with
the livelihood in our the the umthe scope and well-being of our
call counselors, frankly.
(23:20):
Because I I I try to make it aseasy on them as I possibly can.
Does that make sense?
But me, I mean, honestly, if Igo do some like hardcore
kettlebell swings during theday, I feel whatever, uh, make
sure to.
I mean, I've been on this likefitness journey last three or
four months.
SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
Because it gets heavy.
SPEAKER_00 (23:35):
Yes, yeah, it does.
It does.
So I'm working trying to dobetter with that because I, you
know, there was a point whereyou know, my advice was to eat
and all that stuff, but like thelast few months I've been really
diligent on like swinging akettlebell, going on a run.
Yeah, stepping away.
Getting outside.
Yes.
Saunas are freaking great.
Um that season.
Parker and I were just talkingabout this on our last podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
We were talking about you do ice baths.
SPEAKER_00 (23:58):
Just yeah, I do.
I love ice.
SPEAKER_01 (23:59):
It's did you play football in college?
SPEAKER_00 (24:01):
Yeah, not in college, but high school.
In ice bath.
Yeah, high school.
But the worst part of the cokeland.
SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
Did you do ice baths?
SPEAKER_00 (24:05):
No, they did not.
So this is my first.
It's fun, I have a funny storyabout that.
So, so anyway, so okay, I'm abigger guy.
So, like, make sure if you'redoing it with a group of guys
taking turns doing the ice bath,the bigger guy goes last because
you get all the water out.
So, like, I was in Nashville,and like my best friend's in the
music industry, and like a fewof us were were going to this
(24:26):
some place that's kind of likeC-suites.
Yeah, and like I went second tolast, and like I'm straight up
in there and I go and I getwater all over everyone else,
and I hear this lady run down.
We got another one.
I'm like, ah, crap.
So anyway, and I get out andit's like pretty shallow at my
bag, guys.
So anyway, but it's it'sterrible.
SPEAKER_01 (24:43):
Well, I'm gonna be sure to invite you to our next
cold plunge event because we hadone for just in time.
Okay.
And um, we had Dr.
Justin Turnus like lead theevent, and we had the Marine
Corps there, we had the Navythere.
Is it just a dip in?
SPEAKER_00 (24:54):
What does that look like?
Does it dip in, dip out, or isit like the cold plunge?
SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
It's a it's like an inflatable thing, and then you
jump in, we just like keepfilling it up with ice and
water.
But it was so cool because itwas like we can overcome hard
things, and we use it as ametaphor.
Like, you know, when you're in asuicidal moment or a crisis,
it's temporary, just like thiscold water.
SPEAKER_00 (25:13):
And it's a good euphemism.
I like it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
Yeah, it was really cool.
And so, um, but yeah, we haveall the cold punches, so we
gotta probably maybe next yearwe might do the cold punching
back.
SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
Please, I will absolutely do.
I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
Yeah, we had all the resources we had on the
behavioral health center, AFSPwas there, so maybe we can get
you out there.
But the Marine Corps, they wereout there, they were like see so
serious about it.
It was like five minutes, theykicked it off.
I was like, someone's gotta getit.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
Was it five minutes that they do five minutes?
SPEAKER_01 (25:37):
Oh, I think they almost went ten.
SPEAKER_00 (25:39):
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01 (25:39):
Okay, yeah, I think they almost went ten.
SPEAKER_00 (25:41):
I will say though, like if in if you've done it,
I've done it, like you feel kindof euphoric for a while.
Yeah, it's amazing.
And I've done the thing wherelike you jump between the sauna
and it's it's phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01 (25:53):
That's awesome.
I love I love that you do that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
Yeah, it's supposed to reset your nervous system.
I guess it's better for guysthan it is for girls.
SPEAKER_00 (25:59):
Does it?
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
Oh, yeah, it's supposed to reset your nervous
system.
SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
They sit they say not to do the cold plunge uh
right after a lift, though,because it messes up.
SPEAKER_01 (26:07):
You don't want to shrink them off.
SPEAKER_00 (26:08):
Yes, that's exactly what it is.
SPEAKER_01 (26:09):
Do in the morning before, like Mark Wahlberg.
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (26:13):
Same podcast.
Anyway, same algorithm.
Anyway.
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
Exactly.
Um okay, so one of the otherquestions I had for you, I was
looking around on the site and Isaw that you could buy tickets
or there are sponsorships toshows.
Can you tell us about that?
Because I wasn't really sure.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
We do a couple things.
So I'll tell you what we didthis year and then the plan for
26.
So we actually did a kind ofoutside the box thing.
We could we had this uhfundraiser called The Last Laugh
in June, and it was down at JJ'sphenomenal show.
So it was a it was dark comedyfor a cause, and we had
Netflix's Beth Stelling comeheadline.
Yeah, um, Austin comic namedHunter Duncan.
(26:49):
Dude's hilarious.
And then we had a local Austinuh um Arkansas comic that's
Shelly Watson, and she does uhuh the Get Low by the Yin Yang
twins, but in opera, she's atrained opera singer.
Yeah.
So that was for the opener,which was That is awesome, and
that's where we kind of kickedoff our um youth campaign where
we're kicking off the AR Crisisuh team line.
(27:10):
Um, but it was a phenomenalevent.
JJ's Live.
I think it's Ozark band, it'sdip called something different
now.
Um but it at the time it wasJJ's Live.
SPEAKER_01 (27:17):
So you'd buy a ticket and it supported the
crisis line?
SPEAKER_00 (27:20):
100% us.
Yeah, absolutely.
So awesome.
And I mean, I'll be honest withyou, like the comics were
phenomenal.
It was we should, it was thetalent that we had here was
phenomenal.
So we are currently looking tobook another comic.
Yeah, but we're actuallypartnering with the Grove um
down in Lowell, right?
SPEAKER_01 (27:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
So that's what we're gonna have next year.
So Okay, comics out there.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (27:39):
Please reach out if Suicide Education Prevention is
free, reach out to us.
SPEAKER_00 (27:43):
Exactly.
So yeah, I'm gonna sign in someDMs, so hopefully we'll get
something.
Yes, absolutely.
Um, so yeah, we'll we'll we'regonna shoot for early 26 on that
one.
Okay.
And then we have the moretraditional fundraiser called
Challenge for Hope.
Okay.
Um, so what that is, it's a um,it's gonna be a uh tennis golf
tournament that's been aroundfor 35 years, and it's actually
recently come back to our umnonprofit, and it's over at
(28:06):
Pinnacle right across the streetfrom us, which is great.
Yeah.
And we're gonna do that inOctober 26th.
Okay.
That's more so the corporatesponsorship traditional route.
Yep.
Um, obviously we have the VIPparty and gala and all that good
stuff, but um, we have somephenomenal.
SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
Wait, when is the gala?
Where is the gala?
SPEAKER_00 (28:21):
It will be at Pinnacle, it will be at
Pinnacle.
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Okay, did so did you when's the first year you guys
had that?
SPEAKER_00 (28:26):
We the it came back to us last year, but it's been
it, it's been it used to benefitthe uh Boys and Girls Club and
the food bank.
So it's been around.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
But originally, I would love to like volunteer and
support and help bring awarenessto that because um I mean I've
been to a ton of galas, but Ihaven't heard of the Arkansas
Crisis Gala yet.
SPEAKER_00 (28:45):
Yeah, please, yeah, we're we're working on it.
And honestly, we're adding thegala aspect back to it.
It used to used to be a part ofit.
It used to call it Party of theTents.
Yes.
Kind of went away, but we'rerelaunching that aspect back to
it.
I'm I mean, it's very um it'svery useful because not everyone
plays golf or tennis.
So it kind of includes everybodyfor all the businesses.
So um, but yeah, we havecurrently some great support
(29:06):
with some good partners.
Uh I mean, Haribo right nextdoor to your donut.
I mean, it's it's phenomenal.
So, like General Mills, youknow, honorite chairs from
Walmart, it's it's fantastic.
So but definitely, definitelylooking to grow it and there's a
lot of room for opportunity.
Yeah, we are actually uhcurrently looking for some
additional tennis bros.
So we're kind of bringing themin to do the expos and stuff
(29:26):
like that.
So it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (29:28):
That would be awesome.
Maybe Justin Todd, we cancollaborate.
Yeah, dude, yeah.
We wanted to do one, but I feellike it would just make more
sense to collaborate with youand AFSP and do something
amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (29:38):
Yeah, and they do a great thing.
They do um out of darknesswalks, which is like a
peer-to-peer.
SPEAKER_01 (29:42):
Yeah, that was just this last weekend.
SPEAKER_00 (29:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's right.
So it's they're doing phenomenalthings there.
And uh, we always look tocollaborate for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (29:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, okay, so for our listeners,is there anything else that you
would like to tell them aboutthe crisis hotline um that you
can think of right now?
SPEAKER_00 (29:59):
Yeah, there's a couple.
things um one really excitingthing that i've not mentioned is
that we recently got a uh influxin support by the department of
health um it is to focus on the45 rural counties in the state
of Arkansas okay great the wordout so every nook and cranny in
this state that is desperatelyin need of our service we have
(30:20):
the funding and the resources toget out there and teach them
about not just nine and eightnot just the text and chat but
more so suicide preventiontrainings starting with why
making it less taboo giving themthe resources they desperately
need we actually just hired aguy um his name's Dale Fuchs and
he's awesome he's from PerthAustralia yeah started a couple
(30:42):
coffee shops down there uh wasactually in the air force here
recently here um he's looking toget out there and get in these
communities and with us and as ateam and yeah get out there and
and coach them that's amazingabout the rural thing because
when I was in the Capitol inSenator Bozeman's office he
asked me if I knew anythingabout the farmer's bill and I
didn't know what he was talkingabout.
SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
And he had informed me that suicide rate in farmers
was actually going up.
So he had asked me that questionum you know what what is the
crisis line doing in the ruralparts of Arkansas?
SPEAKER_00 (31:16):
So that is really great to hear because sorry this
isn't last year it was the yearbefore that I went for two years
yeah yeah two years ago now yeahso I'm really happy to hear that
that yeah that's that that'sprobably the response from what
he was saying is that theadditional funding for the
support and transportation.
SPEAKER_01 (31:29):
That is awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (31:30):
Yes we're excited about that and then uh fall this
year so next month or so we'regonna be launching the AR AR
Team Connect.
So that is like I said that is anon not non-crisis but a warm
friendship line line ran foryouth by youth via text.
So it's ran by youth for youthand it's actually kind of a cool
story.
It's actually being built builtby youth too.
(31:51):
So we have a youth board andwe've collaborated with like how
old?
I mean high school high schooland college high school okay so
they're like deep into AIthey're building the platform
and the sites and it's going tolive in our space and we're
immensely excited about it.
And it's a continuum of caretoo.
So like once we have a safe planfrom these youth and safety's
established, you know they maynot want to call 988 again or
(32:12):
text 988.
So this one is like they'refriendly but not friends.
They're there for them in a waywhere we tackle it upstream like
so what they can reach back outafter they've already continued
too at the same time so likeit's to the same person?
It's more so just different.
It's it's anonymous foranonymous yeah it's anonymous
(32:34):
but it's ran for youth so like Imean like so if someone were to
say like man I'm feeling kind ofsad today they have someone to
reach out to or no one noticedme today.
No one said hi they have someoneto reach out to or I'm well
that's great that those youthmembers are are getting educated
too because then that just keepsspreading well I hate to say it
but like it also for the for theperson answering the text it
(32:55):
teaches resilience andinterpersonal communication.
So there's skin in the game forboth there's people that were
helping then the volunteersthey're people that are building
life skills that that I would beusing today for exactly so um
but yeah but AFSP was sogenerous and letting us um
letting us kind of um uh utilizeshop at their out of darkness
(33:17):
walks this last spring.
Okay.
So we have a pretty goodvolunteer base and it's it's
phenomenal so we're ready towe're getting ready to launch
and uh yeah it's gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01 (33:25):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (33:26):
Um what time next year are you having your the
gala will be October so you'reit's gonna be October yeah so it
was August last year.
Okay.
Uh obviously super hot it'swe're we're excited about having
it uh in October exactly we'regonna have it like I want to
wear a suit and black sweatexactly so we're gonna um we're
gonna have that after their LPGAevent over at Pentacles okay
that is amazing it's gonna beawesome it's gonna be good so
(33:47):
but yeah um but at the end ofthe day my last thing is is just
knowing that there is a resourceout there yeah it's three digits
nine eight dates and we're here24 hours seven days a week and
uh you know we will never hangup the phone unless we feel like
safety's been met.
SPEAKER_01 (34:04):
Awesome well thank you so much Luke we are so happy
to have you here and join meappreciate it thank you so much
appreciate it if you'restruggling remember how you
think is how you feel if yourfeelings feel heavy start by
shifting the thought you're notstuck your brain can change so
can your story.
I'm Jessica G.
This is the Justin Time podcastand I'll see you next time.
(34:25):
Until then keep going never giveup and remember the world is
better with you in it whetheryou believe it or not to help
reach others please share thiswith your friends family and
don't forget to like subscribeand donate
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