When I used to work in a call center we would get suicidal callers from time to time and there was a whole set of procedures about how to handle it.
Thankfully I never got one. I was having suicidal thoughts pretty much daily at the time and really wouldn't have been in any condition to be talking someone else out of it.
Agreed that the hotlines are pretty fucking useless, but I guess I'm saying you never know what shit other people are dealing with themselves. Even now that I"m doing better, I"m not sure I'd feel comfortable trying to talk someone out of it when I still get up every morning and have to remind myself why I didn't go through with it.