The Cinematheque

An engrossing look behind the scenes at Headquarters, a ²⁴⁄₇ suicide prevention crisis centre in Lawrence, Kansas, where more than twenty thousand calls a year are answered by trained volunteers. ​“We all learn how to talk—we don’t learn how to listen,” says one of the interview subjects in this affecting documentary, as we follow 11 young trainees working their way through a rigorous 11-week training session incorporating intense role-play scenarios covering just about every imaginable crisis. Learning how to listen with empathy and without judgement, and resisting the urge to offer ​“quick fixes” to problems, are skills that prove difficult for some trainees to master. But many graduate to the phones, where they join others like themselves: everyday people on the front lines of suicide prevention.

Post-screening discussion with Josh Cytrynbaum and Sandy Biggerstaff.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

Co-sponsored by The Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of B.C.