The Oregonian, Feb. 6, 2014

Before she leaves work most nights, Judy Cushing walks through the crisis-line call center her nonprofit, Lines for Life, operates. She stops to listen.

In 16 nondescript cubicles, social workers and trained volunteers calmly try to talk people out of killing themselves. Around the clock, they direct addicts yearning to get clean toward services. They listen as veterans describe struggles on the home front. They help the mentally ill and those who love them find care. All together, they take about 35,000 crisis calls a year; of the 17,000 suicide calls, Lines for Life de-escalates 98 percent.

“You can hear those quiet voices,” Cushing says, “talking to someone who’s desperate. It’s a heart stopping moment.”….Continue reading at OregonLive.com