Concern Hotline, a life preserver for those in despair.

By BRIAN BREHM The Winchester Star

“We've all been touched by suicide."

That sad but true statement was made Wednesday evening by Rusty Holland, executive director of the Winchester-based Concern Hotline, as he provided an overview of his nonprofit to Winchester City Council's Public Health and Safety Committee.

Concern Hotline is a volunteer-operated, 24-hour phone service that anyone experiencing despair or an emotional crisis can call to connect with a calming, reassuring and compassionate person. While part of its function is to serve as a suicide prevention service, most of its calls are from people who just need someone to talk to about what's troubling them.

"There's a lot of untreated mental illness in our community," Holland told the committee.

While anyone can experience an emotional crisis, Holland said, "most of our calls come from individuals age 55 and over. The number one demographic for suicide in the United States right now is white males over the age of 65."

Holland explained that people at or near retirement age sometimes have trouble coping with things that occur as people get older, such as ending a career or losing friends and loved ones. When people have a transition in their life and start to lose connections with others, "that isolation and despair and loneliness pushes them toward the hotline, where we give them a compassionate person to talk to."

Sadly, some people take rash actions rather than reach out for help, Holland said, partly because they have easy access to firearms and illicit drugs. When a person becomes hopeless and distraught, they may turn to those things in a desperate attempt to end their suffering rather than picking up a phone and calling Concern Hotline.

"I have a tendency to walk into people's houses and the first thing I do is start looking at safety issues and saying, 'Let's lock that gun up, let's empty out your medicine cabinet, let's do what we need to do to minimize access,'" Holland said.

While Concern Hotline doesn't provide therapy or professional counseling, it offers something that most distraught people desperately need: someone to talk to.

In 2024, the nonprofit received more than 3,000 calls from people in despair. Those callers were greeted by one of the more than 40 volunteers who work in four-hour shifts and received extensive training on how to listen and support people in crisis.

Last year, after a two-year application process, Concern Hotline took measures to better serve its callers by receiving certification from the International Council for Helplines.

"It's the first time since [Concern Hotline was founded in] 1968 that we've been certified," Holland said. "We're one of 100 hotlines in the United States that had to go through this rigorous procedure. We were recognized strongly for our training, which is coordinated by a professor at Shenandoah [University] who also teaches a class called Clinical Helping Skills ... for individuals that are going into helping-skill professions: nursing, occupational therapy, music therapy, whatever."

Several of Concern Hotline's volunteers are Shenandoah students training to become professional nurses, therapists, counselors and so on. After they complete the Clinical Helping Skills course, Holland said about 45% of the students stay on and continue volunteering.

"They see the value in what we're doing, and we obviously see the value in what they're doing for us," he said.

Having fresh perspectives from the college-age students in recent years inspired Holland to expand his nonprofit's marketing to ensure that local youth are aware of Concern Hotline. That decision came just in time for a local 13-year-old girl who overdosed on her grandmother's sleeping pills.

"We got her to the hospital and saved her life," Holland said. "While I want to raise the flag for saving that young lady's life, I also want to raise the flag for her being a 13-year-old who knew enough to pick up the phone and call a helpline to get somebody there to help her. Obviously something's working with our marketing."

If you find yourself feeling desperate, lonely and uncertain, call Concern Hotline at the phone number that serves your location:

Winchester, Frederick County, Clarke County — 540-667-0145

Warren County — 540-635-4357

Shenandoah County — 540-459-4742

Page County — 540-743-3733

If you would like to know more about volunteering with the nonprofit Concern Hotline, which is located at 301 N. Cameron St., Suite 102, in Winchester, call 540-536-1630 or fill out an online form at concernhotline.org/volunteer. You must be 18 or older, undergo a background check and commit to a minimum of 20 hours of training. Shifts are flexible and calls may be taken at your home, on your cell phone or at Concern Hotline's call center.

— Contact Brian Brehm at bbrehm@winchesterstar.com