How to take the next steps after a conversation with our youth helpline
You’ve reached out to our youth helpline, and you’ve spoken with an expert consultant through text, chat, email, or over the phone. Now what? Maybe you can’t stop thinking about your concern, you’re scared, overwhelmed or maybe just feel alone in your problem. Don’t worry — we can help you take the next steps you need!
Next steps after your helpline conversation:
Read back through what you and the helpline counselor talked about
Make a list of the steps you want to take
Rank them from the easiest to the most complex
Break them down into smaller parts if they do require more effort or time
Set dates for when you want to accomplish certain tasks, if that feels helpful
If you keep thinking about your situation, read back through the important parts of what our helpline counselors shared to you
Reflect on what has been shared with you
First, think about what our helpline consultants talked to you about. Perhaps they shared a resource or several with you, or maybe they talked about safety planning, reaching out to someone you trust, therapy, or something else. It’s possible that part of the consult included information about healthy sexual behaviors, or you and the helpline consultant talked about some common myths people wonder about.
Your first step can be to read back through what you and the helpline counselor talked about. Then, write out a list of possible next step options. Or you can copy and paste all the links or information you received into a document or note to organize it. Then, you can see what you want to do, when.
Make a list of action steps
Another idea is to put your action steps into a bulleted list, and then highlight the things you want to do. Or, you can write numbers next to the ones you want to accomplish first, then second, third, etc. The first one can be the easiest or the one that takes the shortest time, while the last one may have many steps or be a longer-term goal.
It’s possible that some of what you need to do may take time. You can consider whether having small deadlines makes organizing your thoughts easier. Maybe there’s one thing you can do by the end of the day today, and there’s a big thing that you’re hoping to accomplish by the end of the month. Perhaps there are smaller steps you can take each week to make progress towards your larger goal over the next few weeks.
If there are some things that may be in the way of you taking certain next steps, write those down too. Is there any way you can overcome them? Did the helpline consultants share different options with you on how you may get there, or talk about ways people have worked through such barriers in the past? Is there something you need to do to get a step closer to the goal you’re working towards?
Remind yourself that it’s okay to ask for help
Sometimes people do feel overwhelmed by their thoughts, feelings or behaviors. It may be helpful, when you’re feeling calm, to pick out key pieces from your helpline conversation that can help if you feel scared, worried or sad, or keep thinking about your situation again and again. Perhaps you can copy it onto your phone so it’s easy to look back on when you need it. Remember, no matter what, you’re not a bad person - and it takes a lot of courage to ask for help!
