Commentary: Is a suicide prevention hotline scaring callers away?
Since September, the last thing a caller to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline hears before being connected to a counselor is this: "Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes."
As a Lifeline counselor, this alarms me.
Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the U.S., and rates have increased in nearly every state from 1999 through 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A person contemplating suicide is often dealing with societal prejudice surrounding mental health. When people call the hotline,
