Lawmakers Push To Create a Three-Digit Suicide Hotline Number (techcrunch.com)

In a letter addressed to the FCC, Senator Ron Wyden urged commissioners to create a three-digit, 911-style suicide hotline number. The Oregon senator cites the CDC's report that more than 40,000 Americans died by suicide in 2017. From a report: "I write on behalf of those struggling with mental health issues, our veterans struggling with PTSD and for those impacted by the tragedy of suicide," Wyden writes. "I urge you to designate a 3-digit code as a Behavioral Health and Suicide Crisis Lifeline. Thank you for your consideration."

While The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launched an 800 line in 2004, many believe the number is too long and cumbersome for those reaching out in their time of need. The letter floats the idea of using 611. The call echoes a similar push last week by Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Chris Stewart to designate the number, which is currently used to report phone service problems by some U.S. and Canadian carriers.

Comments

Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> Senator Ron Wyden urged commissioners to create a three-digit, 911-style suicide hotline number. (611)

Somehow this will end up being another $3.99 service fee on each of my phone lines. Seriously: just popping up a "don't kill yourself" chatbot would be cheaper and more effective; we need "better than Boomer" thinking on this one.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[Tailhook]

popping up a "don't kill yourself" chatbot

While we're at it we should have a "don't mass murder anyone" chatbot as well.

In fact, to hell with your idea; kill yourself if you want. Just leave the rest of us out of it, including the $3.99 service fee.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[Desler]

This is completely false. The taxes and fees are simply baked into the prepaid price, but they are still charged.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[Desler]

They don't eat that cost. That's complete bull.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[The Grim Reefer]

You sound like you might have some good ideas to share. Try running for office and be a help to the community. Or, do you just like to complain about others?

Maybe 150 years ago I would have agreed with you. Hell even 50 years ago before the internet. But who in their right mind would want to run for office today? No sane person would want their life dragged through the mud and shit like that now. Every stupid thing that you ever did would be put under a magnifying glass and taken completely out of context or judged by today's standards as opposed to when they took place. Even worse, all of the crap that you didn't do that you will be accused of.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[rtb61]

Well, the headline was not very clear. So suicide hotline, is that to help or to prevent suicide ie person - I want to commit suicide, hotline - I suggest a small cylinder of nitrogen and a face mask, just saying. Suicide for when people are more scared of living than they are of dying. I understand why suicide is illegal, you don't want psychopaths running around murdering people and trying to make it look like suicide, you need a proper investigation every time to prove it was suicide but as you own your own life, you are certainly entitled to end it as you see fit as you as you strive to inconvenience others as little as possible, don't want to add negatively to your life balance on the way out after all. So a suicide hot line to help or prevent suicide ;).

Re: Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[kenh]

Why is it so inconceivable that the COST of providing your pre-paid service reduced at a greater rate than politicians were able to invent new fees for your cell phone service?

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[AmiMoJo]

Obviously appealing to your humanity isn't going to work, so how about an economic / safety argument?

A lot of these suicides involve murder. Shooting some place up, attacking the thing they blame for their situation, that kind of thing. How much is preventing that worth? How much is not being murdered by someone with suicidal depression and mental health problems worth to you? Answers in US dollars please.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[squiggleslash]

The discussion is about a three digit suicide hotline, not a mind reading device that can figure out if someone plans to take revenge on their workplace. I seriously doubt many of the latter consists of people who make it a point to call the suicide hotline and then wait for a white van to pick them up from their homes beforehand.

This whole discussion is so fucking dumb. One idiot thinks it'll result in a $4 monthly charge, others think it's a great idea because they think the best way to help suicidal problems is to provide them with financial help, therapy, a shoulder to cry on.... JUST KIDDING... they think that the best way to deal with suicidal people is to punish them by making their lives even shittier.

The suicide hotline, even in its current ten digit form, is stupid and the very pinnacle of "Something must be done" assholery. You want to cut suicides? There's only one way, and it's hard: you have to work on making the world a pleasant place to live.

Re:Heh - Boomers and their "phone numbers"

[Tailhook]

Obviously appealing to your humanity isn't going to work, so how about an economic / safety argument?

Stopped right there. I'd rather risk your parade of horribles than create yet another building full of $200k/year Deputy Chief Assistant Directors of the Department of Homeland Suicide Prevention Department. So whatever terrible things you imaged after that point, let's have that. kthxbye

911?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like we already have something in place.

Re:911?

[WillgasM]

That would just be 911 operators forwarding you to the suicide hotline (which isn't that bad of an idea). Otherwise, you'll just add to the numerous stories of police responding by shooting the suicidal person.

Re:911?

[dohzer]

Yeah, but they don't want suicides clogging the phone lines and blocking "actual" emergencies. That's what they're trying to say by creating a separate hotline.

Re:911?

[mhotchin]

OR, maybe suicide prevention isn't an innate skill, and people who are trained to dispatch first responders may not actually be the best first line contacts for suicidal people.

If someone suicidal has managed to reach out, you don't want them hanging up because the respondent isn't trained to deal with them.

By all means have 911 forward the call if they receive it, but if that's all they're going to do, may as well go directly to the experts.

Re:911?

[Immerman]

There's also the problem that police are sometimes (usually?) required to respond to all 911 calls. Just in case an attacker gets the phone before they answer I guess, and tells a nice story. Or maybe so that they can't just completely ignore people. Anyway, had it happen to me once when I misdialed a number while drunk. Somehow got 911, explained and apologized, and got a hell of a surprise a while later when I've suddenly got a half-dozen officers on my front porch and circling the house.

Re:911?

[Obfuscant]

If someone suicidal has managed to reach out, you don't want them hanging up because the respondent isn't trained to deal with them.

You have no idea what training 911 call center operators get, do you? They do a lot more than just dispatch cops. They are routinely credited with talking a panicky caller through dealing with an emergency situation. Dealing with suicide threats is just one of those emergency situations. (At the end of term I hear regular radio traffic dealing with such things.)

but if that's all they're going to do, may as well go directly to the experts.

That's not all they're going to do. If the caller needs medical attention they'll get it headed there. If the caller needs police action, they'll get that going, too. (E.g., Joe calls up saying he's suicidal and has a gun. Police go first to clear the area, then meds go in to deal with Joe.)

And, of course, centralizing emergency response in ONE number means you don't have to remember more than one. Plus you don't need to change an entire system built on the premise that the number being suggested is how you get help with phone service, not with suicides.

Imagine the fun and wasted time and money and interference with a true emergency when someone trying to find out why he was billed for something he doesn't think he should have been keeps calling the suicide hotline.

Re: 911?

[kenh]

So train 911 callers to handle suicide calls - assuming, of course, they aren't already trained to handle suicide calls.

Re:911?

[Hamsterdan]

Not here in Montreal. I called 911 for a very depressed friend, and only the Ambulance showed up. But I called from my cell phone, not a land line, maybe that's the difference

Re:911?

[ceoyoyo]

In Canada we seem to have somewhat saner laws.

I was a volunteer suicide counsellor. 911 would forward us calls all the time. Sans small army surrounding callers' house.

Re: 911?

[Miamicanes]

Calling "911" doesn't really "tie up" much of anything... it's not like there's LITERALLY a single phone line whose number is '911' and causes everyone else to get a literal busy signal. It's a hunt group to a call center, quite possibly with hundreds of agents, often serving a very large area.. and EVERYONE knows that {n}% of the calls at any moment in time are going to be misdialed/stupid/irrelevant. It's baked into the staffing count.

Some people act like every inappropriate 911 call is some needy person's death sentence. The reality is, if a 911 center is SO overwhelmed by calls that calls are going literally unanswered, chances are the local first-responders *themselves* are hopelessly overwhelmed at that point & can't do anything to help *anyway*.

Re:911?

[dcw3]

Anecdote from the VA suburbs of DC...
In an office where I previously worked, you needed to dial 9 to get an external line, and if you were making a long distance call you would next hit 1. Needless to say, we had numerous instances of people accidentally dialing 911, and when realizing they'd done so, hanging up. The 911 folks couldn't call them back directly, so we had fire trucks show up several times.

Re: 911?

[dcw3]

In googling to see what kind of suicide training 911 operators get, I got results showing many 911 operators suffer from PTSD, and may be in need of help themselves. Who should they call?

Re:Taken?

[mermeid007]

611 is already taken, so is 912 and 363 and 300 and 450 and how many I cannot remember. Seems every researcher has their own preference and describes it like its the only possible code - throws temper tantrums if they don't get treated like the true source of facts.

So much cheaper than actual health care

[ffkom]

Sure, assigning a 3-digit number is so much cheaper than providing actual health care for mental disorders or addressing actual causes for suicides (like tasking people to go somewhere and kill people for no good reason).

Maybe this service can even be financed by harvesting the organs of those who called, thus revealed their location, and then leave a corpse that is fresh enough to leave some parts intact. Such efficiency!

Re:So much cheaper than actual health care

[ShanghaiBill]

Sure, assigning a 3-digit number is so much cheaper than providing actual health care for mental disorders

The first step in providing that mental health care is to identify who needs it. The phone number does that.

or addressing actual causes for suicides (like tasking people to go somewhere and kill people for no good reason).

Veterans have double the suicide rate of civilians. But that isn't because they are veterans, but because they are mostly male.

Once you adjust for gender, veterans actually have a lower rate than civilians. Also, suicide among veterans is not correlated with having served in combat (most veterans have never shot at anyone, and have never been shot at).

Re:So much cheaper than actual health care

[desdinova 216]

I think he meant, depression and anxiety.

Re:So much cheaper than actual health care

[dcw3]

Your recommendation is NOT a panacea for suicide prevention. So sure, let's not help those who are going through an immediate crisis?

I'm all in favor of better health care for the mentally ill, but it doesn't have to be one or the other.

Re:So much cheaper than actual health care

[dcw3]

Not sure where you got your data (did actually have some?), but from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., there's a table that disagrees with you. The first number is for civilians, the second is for veterans.

Annual number of suicides per 100,000 population
Women 5.2 28.7
Men 20.9 32.1

Easy to remember.

[Presence Eternal]

611 for suicide, 911 for extroverted suicide. 311 for a really delicious guacamole recipe.

Re:Easy to remember.

[Tablizer]

611 for suicide, 911 for extroverted suicide. 311 for a really delicious guacamole recipe.

And 116 for the dyslexicly depressed.

Re:Easy to remember.

[PolygamousRanchKid]

611 for suicide, 911 for extroverted suicide. 311 for a really delicious guacamole recipe.

I guess the 666 calls will be routed to me . . .

Re:Easy to remember.

[azrael29a]

611 for suicide, 911 for extroverted suicide. 311 for a really delicious guacamole recipe.

How about an easier to remember number, like: 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3.

Next solution: suicide (prevention!) booths.

This again?

[GoRK]

911 will already transfer callers to suicide intervention, plus they can handle all of the related emergencies that require additional immediate support: for instance "I've just eaten a bunch of random pills" Every mental health professional in the US already has "If this is an emergency hang up and dial 911" on their voicemail.

There is really no need to go through the expense and other regulatory nonsense necessary to establish a new special emergency dialing number for just because you are a senator. This is the same nonsense that brought us the spectacular failure that is the "Amber Alert"

Yes, it's important. But so long as you have a million different 501c3's vying for dollars to "raise awareness" and promote their own competing solutions the problem is effectively gridlocked. We already have a national emergency line that routes you to a person trained to assist with any emergency. Please use it.

Re:This again?

[mysidia]

Seriously... we already have the 741741 crisis prevention text line; which makes sense, because
SMS Text messages are what people use to communicate these days... the concept of an "Emergency Number"
is completely redundant, we already have that: its 911.

Also, the other bit is there are bound to be problems Because this number is already in use
as described: which is currently used to report phone service problems by some U.S. and Canadian carriers.

That means 611 is already standard for a local use kind of like a private IP address and has already been assigned at least by some carriers
for their own purposes... Which is a clear reason not to use the number to avoid confusion.

Also, since its a short# and not a valid telephone number, it won't work unless you can persuade every telecom to get on board with this - or dialing the number may just happen to get to nowhere on their network ---- which numbers can be assigned are determined by standards as well the assignable blocks are managed by the industry association - deciding what pushing 611 does on the telephone is outside the purview of the senate and even the FCC ---- just in the same way those bodies don't get to decide which subscriber 111-111-1111 goes to.

Re:This again?

[Solandri]

911 will already transfer callers to suicide intervention, plus they can handle all of the related emergencies that require additional immediate support

That is the problem. 911 is advertised as being for emergencies. People suffering suicidal depression rarely consider it to be an emergency. They consider it to be a personal problem, not rising to the level of an emergency which warrants involving other people. We could badly use a hotline that people know they can call if they're just depressed and want someone to talk to.

And This Is Important. Aside from disease, suicide is the #2 cause of death in this country (Table 6).

• 58,335 deaths by accidental poisoning (mostly drug overdoses - the other huge problem the country is facing)
• 44,965 deaths by suicide
• 40,327 deaths by motor vehicle accidents
• 34.673 deaths by falls
• 19,362 homicides (14,415 by gun)

You probably aren't aware of this because the media has been reticent in their duty in reporting facts to the populace, devoting too much air time on their pet issue (gun violence), They've mostly neglected the two issues (suicide and drug overdoses) which have grown over the last two decades to become several times larger than the number of gun homicides. Test it for yourself. Watch the news and count how many suicides, drug overdoses, motor vehicle accidents, and gun deaths they report. You'll find their coverage is skewed heavily towards reporting gun deaths.

Re:This again?

[ljw1004]

911 will already transfer callers to suicide intervention, plus they can handle all of the related emergencies that require additional immediate support: for instance "I've just eaten a bunch of random pills" Every mental health professional in the US already has "If this is an emergency hang up and dial 911" on their voicemail.

The only thing I know about this area is from donating money to https://www.crisisconnections.... and attending their charity dinner and listening to their expert speakers, plus my housemate is one of their volunteers who answers their phonelines once a week. Crisis Connections handles about 350 crisis hotline calls per day, which if I remember right is about 90% of all calls made in Washington State. They are reachable on the number 2-1-1.

I got the impression that most calls are NOT emergencies. And that callers are put off by 911 because it's been drummed into them to only call 911 in case of emergencies. The people are calling 211 for support -- moments of crisis, domestic violence, uncertainty or loneliness. Where do I get food and shelter? My utilities have been turned off and I don't know what to do? I can't make rent and I'm being kicked out and I don't know whom to turn to? I'm lonely and don't have anyone and am worried I'll slide back into drugs? Not all of them (I believe only few of them) are right at the point of a suicide emergency intervention. Imagine if you call 911 and they ask you if you want police, fire service or ambulance, and you tell them you just need someone to talk to because you've run out of money and can't make rent and despair of what to do for your kids over Christmas. I don't think that would go down well with an impatient 911 operator who needs to quickly handle urgent emergencies.

The other thing that struck me is how Crisis Connections believes it urgently needs to invest more in texting -- a modern generation has grown up where a phone call is too big an obstacle (so imagine how they'd feel with 911!). Crisis Connections wants to meet them where they're at, i.e. over text messages.

Re:This again?

[angel'o'sphere]

611 .... RING .... RING ... RING ...

Hello, this is 611, your service operator. Is this a phone service problem, dial 9, is this a mental health problem, dial 5, is this a suicide problem dial 1.

1 ... music plays ...

Please hold the line, all service personal is already engaged in conversations, as soon as one is available you will be dispatched.

Please hold the line .... music plays

Re: This again?

[kenh]

The only one that has any real expense to it is 911. The others are all either provided by individual states or cities, or private organizations.

So services provided by states or cities are free? That's fantastic! /SMH

Re: This again?

[kenh]

That is the problem. 911 is advertised as being for emergencies. People suffering suicidal depression rarely consider it to be an emergency. They consider it to be a personal problem, not rising to the level of an emergency which warrants involving other people. We could badly use a hotline that people know they can call if they're just depressed and want someone to talk to.

So what we need is a suicide prevention party line? I can just imagine the late-night ads, full of depressed, suicidal people...

Re: This again?

[kenh]

So why not put your friends/family phone numbers on speed dial and call them, rather than 911? It's two fewer buttons to push, and you won't get a bill for an ambulance ride to the ER?

Re:This again?

[stealth_finger]

He's calling for a phone number, not a call center.

Who is it you think the phone number is going to call?

Re:This again?

[thegarbz]

911 will already transfer callers to suicide intervention

How well is this advertised? I'm sure when someone sees someone about to or thinks of committing suicide themselves 911 is unlikely the number they are planning on calling. Does 911 handle people who are depressed too?

Re:This again?

[dcw3]

"SMS Text messages are what people use to communicate these days"

Yes, most millennial and tech savvy Boomers do, but a very large portion of the population does not. 911 is still the default for most people.

Re:This again?

[mysidia]

Yes, most millennial and tech savvy Boomers do, but a very large portion of the population does not.

Well, they're trying to address suicide, and suicide is not uniform across age groups across the population.
Its almost 20% in the group aged 45 to 64. The major factor for observed increase in suicide rates -- is
suicide among young people, so if they want to combat that --- the solutions sought should be the ones
that young people can and will benefit from. It makes little sense to create a voice phone hotline, since
a majority of the population aren't accustomed to using that mode of communication anymore.

The other things they should really take a look at.... Nearly half or more of successful suicides involve the use of Firearms.

A good idea would probably be to step up firearm control efforts -- for example, lets say in order to purchase ammunition or a gun, you must
pay an additional tax on all ammo to help fund government systems to manage this -- and you have to complete a safety+operation training and a thorough psych. exam, plus take a 250-question standardized test -- that allows you to be issued a special government ID card.
Prohibit personally or commercially trading guns or ammunition to another person without first completing a government form describing and reporting all details of the exact transaction and verifying both persons' ID.
Give a date and count on all ammunition purchases, create a national database
of ammunition purchases, and every spent or unused ammunition casing must be turned in for destruction or recycling within 1 year of first sale by the manufacturer/retailer --- otherwise, a misdemeanor occurs, and access to the ID card and the privilege of making any further ammunition or gun purchases is rescinded. Also, as a renewal/app requirement on the ID: proof of additional continuing education and renewal of mental health verification must be shown.
Including a sworn promise that "Per the terms of the ID, these products are for my use only. When any gun or bullet I own is not in my immediate physical possession, I will take all reasonable steps within my ability to keep them all locked and all firearms unloaded with ammo secured in a location removed from the place where any gun is stored, in a manner strongly secured against possible use of gun or of ammo by any other person including from housemates, friends, acquaintances, family, or ex-family members, or significant other/ husband/wife/spouse whether well-intended or malicious."

Simply by making it a hassle to keep and continue to possess ammo would probably dissuade a lot of people from harboring these deadly
devices --- every bullet turned in or actually used in sport is 1 less bullet lying around to be used badly, that could be 1 less suicide attempt.

Guns won't work without ammo, and its outside the compass of most average people to manufacture their own ammo.

Help

[Anonymous Coward]

Will it help people to kill themselves as cleanly and painfully as possible? Or is one of those, "People shouldn't have the right to end their life, so let's pretend like we care so they may live another day"? Let's be honest, most people don't want to have to deal with people who are suicidal.

It's not fun. It's not about, "People don't love me". It is about the idea that people who don't have a purpose may want to end their life. It's little wonder vets have that problem when they spend a considerable amount of time being told their purpose. And the elderly often do get to a point where they don't have particular reason to live and would rather give as much of their wealth to their loved ones instead of just burning through it and hoping they die naturally first with possibly lots of suffering along the way.

So, is the goal to help? Or make you feel better about yourself?

Re:Help

[squiggleslash]

It's a feel good proposal by people who think that by shoving someone at the end of their tether in a hospital (essentially destroying any chance of recovery given they'll be paying the hospital bill and lost wages/jobs for the foreseeable future, on top of whatever got them close to suicide in the first place), they're "doing something" about depression.

They're assholes. People who promote suicide hotlines should go fuck themselves.

Re:Help

[AmiMoJo]

Suicide due to depression or other mental health problems is a medical emergency that a person can recover from. For people in that situation it clearly seems hopeless, but with help they can usually recover.

That's different to people who choose how to end their lives for reasons other than mental health problems, such as terminal illness or chronic severe pain. That's a rational decision to deal with something that cannot be put right, or where the chances of recover are very slim.

It's possible to want to help with both withing being a hypocrite.

Re:Help

[squiggleslash]

Suicide due to depression or other mental health problems is a medical emergency that a person can recover from.

That's the propaganda, yeah. The question that nobody ever answers when I put it out there is that given it's unlikely a negative self destructive trait would survive very long in human evolution, and given the psychiatrists BS about depression is that it is exactly such a destructive trait - a genetic disease that somehow passes from one generation to the next yet also "encourages" suicide, is it just not a teeny bit obvious that something more that's going on?

Here's the reality, and fuck my karma for pointing it out: SUICIDAL THOUGHTS CAUSE DEPRESSION, NOT VICE VERSA. Depression is literally a mental disorder that stops you from doing anything other than the bare minimum. Isn't it a billion times more likely that depression evolved as a method to prevent people from killing themselves in seemingly hopeless cases?

Is it really a surprise that the suicide rate for people on anti-depressants is higher than control groups not on them?

Suicide hotlines are like regexes: you have a problem. You try to solve it by calling a suicide hotline, with the result that you're hospitalized. Congrats, now you have two problems.

You're now even more in debt than you were before. You've probably lost your job. Your family and other loved ones are now upset. You MIGHT still be alive at the end of it, but you've just been denied a solution and forced to live a life you really don't want to live. You still have every single problem that resulted in you wanting to die in the first place.

Want to reduce suicides? Do what you can to prevent major problems before someone gets to the point that they're flailing for help. To do otherwise, to simply wait until the problems get so big that they've overwhelmed the victim, and then turn around and say "Tough shit, you're now sentenced to a life where you have to live in utter misery because we're going to emotionally blackmail you into staying alive, together with pumping you full of drugs that'll make you not you" is fucked up.

Re:Help

[AmiMoJo]

I'm going to guess that you never suffered from depression and never recovered from it, but I can tell you that you are very wrong.

Re:Help

[squiggleslash]

Amazing. Every word in that sentence was wrong.

I have very, very, good reasons to be angry about this very issue. And if I were in your shoes, I'd shut the fuck up now and stop digging.

Dial "SOL"

[Tablizer]

I suggest "SOL", since it probably won't get properly funded in the longer run, and/or be so abused by trolls & hackers as to be nearly useless ... kind of like Slashdot :-)

Won't someone think of the medical profession

[AHuxley]

Why does the government want to replace people working long hours in the community with a new service?

The use of a hospital, doctor, nurse and the well understood billing systems. All in place, ready to help.
The overtime for the police. Ready to respond.
The ambulance needed.
Thats jobs, professions, education, work, over time, pensions and billing.
To be replaced by a phone?

Re:Won't someone think of the medical profession

[thegarbz]

You just described none of what a suicide prevention call does. I think those people's jobs will be completely unaffected.

Re:Won't someone think of the medical profession

[AmiMoJo]

Those are all emergency services, and in the US some of them are not free.

Most suicide hotlines are not used for emergencies most of the time, they are used by people long before they reach that point. That's how it should be, the goal should be to address the problem before it gets that bad.

Maybe this is a kind of free mental healthcare offering by the back door. If so I welcome it.

707. What else!

[Dirk Becher]

*nt*

The first thing to do

[Hasaf]

The first thing to do is to ensure that the lines are properly staffed. It is not at all uncommon for a person on a "suicide hotline" call to be put on hold.

Symptoms vs Sources

[TimMD909]

Seems like a lawmaker trying to look like he's giving a fuck, but doesn't because he hasn't thought this through at all. We already have enough trouble staffing 911 centers in different parts of the country. Now he wants to make that strain twice as bad, when the existing services aren't so bad now.

Years ago, I had a suicidal friend call me at zero dark thirty. After talking to her for a bit, I told her I was going to call 911 for her, then call her right back. After giving 911 her address/contact information and my contact information, I called her back. Within I want to say 8 minutes, there was someone at her door to make sure she was safe. All people acted professionally, and she got urgent mental health care. How exactly can improve this scenario?

Put another way, I think the senator has absolutely no idea how to handle the suicide rates. If he had spent any time on the ground talking with people, a story like mine should not be uncommon. I'm sure there's parts of the country where my story is rare or non-existent, however, I view that as a job for local governments. Reducing suicide is about solving personal issues that primarily manifest at the local community level. Trying to do anything from the federal level seems foolish and reckless.

Re:Symptoms vs Sources

[Arzaboa]

I'm glad that all of this worked out well for the two of you.

I'm not sure that most people want the police, who can then ticket, arrest, and jail someone for some other issue going on inside their home. What about folks with warrants? What about the folks that have a child at home where CPS might take them? What about the public who are listening to the police radio traffic and reporting on the calls made, as most local newspapers do? Now these people are not only suicidal, but their entire lives are threatened to be completely disrupted, which is exactly the wrong thing to do.

While this may have worked in this instance, this is exactly what keeps a large percentage of folks from contacting anyone.

How could this be done better? Encourage social activities in the community. Encourage neighbors to talk. Create local spaces where neighbors can get together on a whim without every public space being closed after dark.

--
And good neighbors make a huge difference in the quality of life. - Robert Fulghum

Re: Symptoms vs Sources

[kenh]

How could this be done better? Encourage social activities in the community. Encourage neighbors to talk. Create local spaces where neighbors can get together on a whim without every public space being closed after dark.

Been there, done that - under the Clinton administration - it was called 'midnight basketball'... google it.

Re: Symptoms vs Sources

[kenh]

Your friend had someone she trusted to call. What if she didn't?

All he did was call 911 - she could have called 911 herself if she had no one else to talk to.

Re:Symptoms vs Sources

[stealth_finger]

>Years ago, I had a suicidal friend call me at zero dark thirty.

How rude. I would have told her I'll call her back when the movie was over.

Was probably a good excuse to get out of that shit film.

Self reporting?

[Arzaboa]

You self report that you are a danger to yourself. The cops show up, the mental health experts show up. It is on your medical record for life. Is that what a suicidal person needs is a system that will intervene and never forget? Maybe.

The problem with this is there are a whole lot of folks out there that will never contact anyone as it may be a semi-fleeting thought, but would be very helpful to chat with a person that they know is safe. How many people that have committed suicide called a help line?

As we've left the farms and moved to a life that is boxed in by laws, deadlines, and you better be to work on time, less get fired, people just don't have support systems. People need people, even the people that hate people.

The question should be, how do we foster personal relationships better? How do we help our neighbors? How do the people help each without entering a bureaucracy?

--
No one has ever become poor by giving. -- Anne Frank

Re:Self reporting?

[Hadlock]

I think modern life is probably less structured than agricultural life. Maybe you meant to reference hunter-gatherer life?

Conflicted

[sycodon]

What would they do if they got a call from one of the Euthanasia clinics in Portland?

Re:Taken?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

666? Because suicide takes to straight to HELL!!!

611 is most appropriate

[SeaFox]

Calling 611 now connects you to your phone provider's Customer Service line. Dealing with AT&T's billing dept would make me want to kill myself, too.

New Emergency Response Number

[bob4u2c]

We already have IT:

0118, 999, 881, 999, 119, 725 . . .3!

That's
0118, 999, 881, 999, 119, 725 . . .3!

Hello, I’ve had a bit of a tumble

Re: New Emergency Response Number

[kenh]

Love it! Loved that shoe!

Re: New Emergency Response Number

[kenh]

Show!

Re:New Emergency Response Number

[stealth_finger]

To whom it may concern...

Plural?

[jpaine619]

Why did a single Senator qualify as "lawmakers"?

Terminal Hold

[sdinfoserv]

After decades of slashing public health dollars to pay for tax cuts to the rich, let's just give those poor a number to call, shall we?

Re:Or just let people do it

[sdinfoserv]

Simple, don't call for help......

Alternate number

[DigitalJanitor]

How about they use 666? Easy to dial, not hard to remember and if you're Catholic, it helps to remind you of your need to dial.

Re:Taken?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Heresy will take you straight to HELL!!!, too.

Yep, mental health is a long term thing

[rsilvergun]

and very pricey. I have several friends who are a bit off and you get zero help unless you're an active danger to yourself or those around you. That's where the "I cut myself to feel alive" thing actually comes from. When mentally ill people feel an attack coming on they usually can't get any help unless they're already violent, so they cut themselves.

But hey, would you risk a 2% income tax increase to pay for it all? Yeah, if we just taxed the upper income guys your taxes probably wouldn't go up, but again, nobody wants to risk it. Given that somewhere between 60-80% of us are paycheck to paycheck I don't know if I can blame them. Man, what a world...

Seriously???

[The Grim Reefer]

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launched an 800 line in 2004, many believe the number is too long and cumbersome for those reaching out in their time of need.

I'm having some difficulty in believing this. Picking up the phone and dialing 7 more digits is more cumbersome than committing suicide?

I really don't mean to make light of this, but I just can't see someone holding a gun ready to kill themselves and thinking that if only there was a 3 digit number they could call everything would be fine. But instead of a 10 digit number they would choose to pull the trigger.

If this is the case, why not mandate all phones have a built in single button speed dial to the suicide hotline? I mean 3 digits it just so long and cumbersome. At least a trigger pull and a single button are both a single action. Plus the speed dial button will take less force than a trigger.

Re: Seriously???

[kenh]

We should make the dial tone be a voice that says 'press 1 if you are not suicidal', that way all a suicidal person need do is pick up the phone and wait to be connected to a suicide prevention line...

Beside the point.

[WorBlux]

When most phones you can just say "Hey (digital assistant here) call the suicide hotline"

Re:Beside the point.

[angel'o'sphere]

The digital assistance basically only works if you have an internet connection.
Depending on country, culture, billing plan, people often have no internet (have to top up first or what ever).

And then again ... I doubt many suicidal people come to the idea: "oh, now it is time to call the suicide hotline!"

Re:Beside the point.

[WorBlux]

Some of the newer phones are pushing the initial processing into the phone itself, especially as specialized IP for the SOC becomes available.

Also the 3 digit codes, and congress can only affect the U.S, where you have to be pretty remote to not have at least a 3g signal. And areas that remote don't have a lot of people around.

How About

[Greyfox]

An actual social safety net?
Lawmakers: Nope!
Medical care that doesn't require the uninsured to go further into debt or bankruptcy if they get sick?
Lawmakers: Ha ha ha ha ha no.
Help with that depressing student debt?
Lawmakers: Nope!
Better living standards for the next generation?
Lawmakers: Nope!
Renewable green energy that's already less expensive than fossil fuels and which might save the planet for future generations?
Lawmakers: We really like our coal...
Some help for the homeless?
Lawmakers: Uh-uh.
Prozac in the water supply?
Lawmakers: Uh... we'll get back to you on that... But in the mean time, how about a nice 3 digit suicide prevention number?

911

[p51d007]

Just dial 911. Telecommunicators can directly connect you to the suicide prevention number at the snap of a finger. We use to route calls to ambulance, EMT's, gas leak, etc all the time.

Finding the cause vs treating the symptoms

[nehumanuscrede]

Show of hands of who thinks you'll end up on a list if you dare call a suicide hotline ?
Think it might come back to haunt you years down the road ?
( Want to take a guess why so many Veterans don't ask for help ? Hint: See Above )

Maybe we should start looking hard at the WHY behind things.

WHY are suicides happening ?
WHY are mass shootings happening ?
WHY are so many depressed or angry to the point of suicide or homicide ?

Wonder if it has anything to do with a mediocre economy, pathetic job market, stagnant wages,
income inequality, non-stop military conflicts / wars, totally useless / lying leadership for the past several
decades, the voting system being a total joke, government spying, etc. etc. This list can go on forever.

The short version: There isn't a whole lot to be happy about in America these days.

Fix the why and you'll solve a lot of issues at once.

Re:Taken?

[sheramil]

404.

Re: What about suicide assistance?

[kenh]

Amazon is all about subscriptions, auto-refill orders, and those little WiFi-enabled buttons that order refills with a simple press of a button... the issue is that there is very low repeat business for 'do-it-yourself suicide kits'.

How will anyone measure effectiveness?

[iamacat]

This is presumably going to be a government service with a budget. How would anyone know how many suicides were prevented per dollar spent, if budget should be adjusted up or down and which are best councelors to promote / worst ones to fire? Would most traffic be generated by repeated bored callers who are at no serious risk? If you ARE at serious risk, how likely are we to stop you from hurting yourself or others long term in a single call, without a systematic follow up? All in all, we should be running few carefully thought through and well audited services rather than a bunch of feel good projects that nobody understands. As many others have suggested, existing 911 system may have more expertise and ability to follow up / deploy physical assets.

Re: Taken?

[stealth_finger]

Hell is other people.

My suggestion

[argStyopa]

...would be to use 2580, easy to remember on a phone touchpad as it would sort of simulate someone falling from a building?

maybe not 6

[bobmagicii]

they should not pick a number that is both an upside down 9 and also right next to the 9 on a phone keypad. YESS HELO HALP IM DID CRASH AND MY KID IS DYING. sir, this is 611 not 911 i suggest dialing the 696 dyslexia hotline.

I swear...

[tmh - The Mad Hacker]

...if they give me another 3-digit number to remember, I'm gonna kill myself!

Seriously, though, I agree with a lot of the posts from others detailing reasons why this isn't a great idea.

Of course it has to be this number...

[laxr5rs]

666