Stress because of economy blamed on surge in calls to suicide prevention centers

[Algorem]

Source: Associated Press

Wednesday August 05, 2009, 2:29 AM

WASHINGTON -- Economic woes are weighing heavily on some Americans -- so much so that the federal government is boosting financial support for suicide prevention centers around the nation.

Richard McKeon, the lead health adviser for suicide prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, says calls to suicide crisis centers have increased sharply in the past year -- with more than 57,000 calls in July alone. He said about a quarter of the calls were linked to economic distress.

McKeon said SAMHSA plans to provide more than $1 million in additional money this year to help up to 20 crisis centers facing a big uptick in the number of calls for help as well as possible state and local budget cuts.


"We know that every single day, there are people calling who are in the midst of a suicide attempt," McKeon said in an interview late Tuesday. "Any delay in getting that call answered could be tragic."...



Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/08/stress_because_of_economy_blam.html

[Skittles]

1. true angels are the folks taking these calls

give them all the support they need

[truthisfreedom]

2. one million spread over 20 centers?

That's only 50K per center, hardly enough to pay for one more professional with health care and whatnot expenses.

Maybe 2 million would be ok? That's only .002% of Obama's 1 Trillion dollar uptick.