Difficult situations can come up while you are coaching on TaskHuman. It's possible these situations may include threats of self-harm, suicide, or requests for emergency assistance. When these situations occur, it can feel like a whirlwind for you as a coach with racing thoughts on what to do. There is often a strong urge to do more, given your empathy and wanting to be of service. So what should you do?
Below we share some best practices on how to handle these types of situations, but before we share best practices it's important to cover a few important concepts regarding the TaskHuman platform.
- The situations we discuss below are primarily related to self-harm, suicide, or emergency types of situations. If it's a different situation, such as an abusive or threatening user please make sure to block them immediately within the application, as described here.
- It's important to recognize that TaskHuman does not claim to offer any type of emergency service or suicide prevention service. It's also not a platform to perform therapy or clinical intervention. We specifically state this in our terms, as well as making this explicit when a user first enters our application (as shown below).
- When you joined as a Coach, we specifically asked you and you agreed not to engage in these activities- so please don't. We recognize that you may have a background in emergency services, suicide prevention, or therapy but we expressly stated that we do not want you acting in that capacity while on the platform. It's not that you aren't capable or that you aren't knowledgeable—it's just simply outside the scope of what we offer and what we ask our Coaches to do.
- The conversations you have with that individual should be respected, and kept between you and them. So please don't share any personal information about the user with your family or friends.
- TaskHuman is a global platform, meaning you are not likely going to know where the user is during the course of a situation involving an emergency, a threat of self-harm, or suicide. If this was in a single physical location, the first thing you would do is call the police, but on TaskHuman you aren't going to be able to pick up the phone and dial 911, since you have no idea where that person is.
So what are best practices?
If you are on a call:
1. Remain calm.
2. Express concern and care.
3. Listen closely.
4. Don't argue or raise your voice.
5. When they are done speaking, tell them that you want them to seek help outside the TaskHuman platform, from a qualified professional or from a local emergency service.
6. Let them know that after the call ends, you will share a link to resources that will help.
7. After the call ends, send them a message containing the link to the International Suicide Prevention Directory: https://suicideprevention.wikia.org/wiki/International_Suicide_Prevention_Directory
or the U.S. State Departments List of Global Emergency Service Numbers:
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf
8. Notify TaskHuman of your experience by messaging the Concierge or emailing safety@taskhuman.com.
Here is a sample template:
Hi, I understand and care that you may be in a situation where you have needs that exceed my scope of capabilities, and that you should be supported by a different qualified professional outside the TaskHuman platform. Given what you shared, I want to provide you this website as a resource.
https://suicideprevention.wikia.org/wiki/International_Suicide_Prevention_Directory.
or
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf
We care for your health and safety, so we ask that you take action immediately and seek help from the resource provided above.
If you are communicating via the chat feature:
1. Remain calm.
2. Express concern and care.
3. Send them a message containing the link to the International Suicide Prevention Directory: https://suicideprevention.wikia.org/wiki/International_Suicide_Prevention_Directory
or the U.S. State Departments List of Global Emergency Service Numbers
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf
Note: The same sample template as shown above can be used.