The personal is political.
My oldest sister, the one with that gorgeous smile and heart of gold looking over my shoulder, committed suicide nearly 6 years ago. I miss her a lot. There are still times like today that I cry over the loss of this kind and sweet lady. But she's with me every single day. Literally.
Her lost battle has been the bridge to the empathy I have for others who lose family members to suicide. She's the reason I began writing about post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] in our returning troops after reading an August 31, 2005 Seattle Weekly article. She's the inspiration for the PTSD Timeline, and she's the inspiration for the blog, and the upcoming book, and everything else that's flowed from my reporting on PTSD.
And tonight at midnight, the federal government is going to succeed in won't be shutting down the most successful non-profit, confidential suicide hotline available. The largest private non-government suicide hotline, working tirelessly the past 8 years to build up the 1-800-SUICIDE resource stays open.
racerx wrote about this earlier today, but it slipped away too quickly...
Update [2006-8-12 1:8:40 by ilona]: Damn, we're good!!
And yes, this is the first diary and title that I'm going to use tons of exclamation points in! If this isn't the best update I'll ever write, I don't know when that day will come! Sen. Paul Wellstone is smilin' down on us, guys (he supported this program)! What the hell, have 2 more!! No, 3!!! I'm giddy!
This just in, caught by sardonyx:
1-800-SUICIDE Gets 2 Week Extension - Thank You For Your Support!
TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED US A BIG THANK YOU!
The outpouring of support and donations was the largest we have ever received in our history in a single day. We received over 100 donations and the day is not done. We made our target of 10k to keep the line live for two more weeks. We received calls of support from people who credit the Hopeline with helping them through their most difficult times and now they wanted to help us in ours. We also received the most media coverage in our 8 year history. So many more people will learn of our service as a result of this campaign.
There is much work to be done to get our organization into a secure sustainable position but our all volunteer Board is dedicated to helping us to get there, and with the support of people like you this grassroots network of community based crisis centers can be even better and stronger than before. From all of us at the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the members of the National Hopeline Network, we thank you for your continued support, faith in us to be stewards of the nation's suicide hotline network and belief in our mission to offer help and hope from unconditional and confidential crisis centers.
Best always,
Reese Butler, President and Founder
KBHC Board of Directors
Woo Hoo, this one is a clear victory, guys. THANK YOU ALL!
Work's not done, and they still need our help. Please do what you can (actions at the bottom)...
From Taylor Marsh for Huffington Post:
If you've ever known anyone in the throws of deep depression, especially someone who is suicidal, you know that reaching out for help is not easy. Depression brings with it a lot of shame, especially when you're in the throws of the deepest, blackest heart of the illness. Just ask Mike Wallace if you don't think depression is real. ...[Reese Butler is the founder of the hotline.] According to Butler's suit, the Suicide Hotline takes in over 1,000 calls per day, approximately 60% of which are crisis calls. Butler's current provider is now threatening to shut down the hotline as of midnight tonight. I received this press release this morning.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 1-800-SUICIDE, the nation's best known, private and confidential suicide prevention hotline network, will be shut off at midnight tonight unless action is taken. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), a division of HHS, has decided to end all funding for KBHC while continuing to owe them $266,000 from over 2 years ago. Instead of sending the funds that were already allocated, SAMHSA has gone on to create their own competing crisis hotline -- which gives them access to callers' private information through phone records. 1-800-SUICIDE does not disclose its phone records to the federal government. SAVE HOPE
SAMHSA plans to take over the hotline without having to pay anything for it.
From The Raw Story:
[T]he government is hoping to direct callers to a new hotline, operated by the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services [SAMHSA].
Even in light of an outpouring of support in favor of the Kristin Brooks Help Center [KBHC], SAMHSA won't budge:
A grassroots effort called "Save 1-800-SUICIDE www.save1800suicide.org" was created to enlist supporters' help in asking the federal government to make good on their commitment. This online effort sent over 2500 emails to SAMHSA and raised over $7,000 in the past ten days -- but fell short the $60,512 in over due phone bills to keep the line connected.
From the Save 1-800-Suicide website:
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a division of Health & Human Services, has decided to create their own government run system where they would have direct access to confidential data on individuals in crisis. ...
KBHC network covers more than 200 crisis centers with 20 different distinct peer support hotlines such as the Youth America Hotline, veterans hotlines, postnatal depression moms hotline, etc... 1-800-SUICIDE stands firm in its commitment to provide the best hotline support network with complete confidentiality of the caller's identity.
"I created this hotline in honor and memory of my wife and wanted it to have the utmost in integrity to the caller and to their family. It is unfair that SAMHSA is simply not paying the bills from 2004. They punish not only me for not giving them access to the data -- but the calls that need help, will not get answered" stated Reese Butler, founder of KBHC.
These are the action items they have available to us:
- Tell the government to keep their commitment to 1-800-SUICIDE and send the $266,000 that was already allocated.
- Help Fund 1.800.SUICIDE. We need to raise $266,000 for our bills with AT&T to keep the Suicide Prevention Hotline running privately. Once we pay off AT&T for our old phone agreement We have to pay roughly $30,000 per month for the next 6 months in order to come out of debt.
- Keep Suicide Prevention Private and Confidential Petition. Our Government should not duplicate the efforts of the Hopeline - but help with training of social works, education and awareness of the issues of mental health.
- E-mail your friends.