SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE
(212) 673-3000 
The Samaritans Suicide Prevention
Program and Services
The need for suicide prevention is obvious. Suicide is an epidemic in America
today touching people of every age, culture, social and religious identity.
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S. (over 30,000 fatalities
a year), the 3rd leading cause of death of American teenagers and the 2nd
of college students. Most people would be shocked to learn that more Americans
take their own lives each year than die by AIDS or homocide. The good news
is that, since the vast majority of people who attempt suicide do something
to let others know their intentions before they act (experts say as many
as 75%), suicide can be prevented through awareness, education and training.
The Samaritans of New York is the local branch of the international humanitarian
movement with over 400 branches in 38 countries. A non-religious, non-profit
organization, Samaritans is devoted to helping those people who are in crisis
and feeling suicidal through our volunteer-run programs that practice a
communications-based response we call "befriending," which emphasizes listening
to what a person in crisis is feeling and thinking without expressing personal judgments or opinions.
The Suicide Prevention Hotline
operates 24 hours, seven-days-a-week. Staffed by over 100 volunteers
who go through intensive training, it is the city's only confidential
24-hour hotline devoted to preventing suicide. The hotline responds to
callers from every walk of life, with problems ranging from AIDS and other
illnesses to being the victim of violence or sexual abuse to the loss
of a loved one, to being unemployed or suffering from depression. With
major funding from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and
the NYS Office of Mental Health, the hotline answers 45,000 calls a year.
The Public Education Program provides
a crisis response/training team that supplies feedback and support to
those touched by suicide, and awareness and prevention workshops for students,
parents, teachers, guidance counselors, social workers and others. With
major support from funders including the NYC Council, NYS Office of Mental
Health and the van Ameringen Foundation, since 1990 the program has trained
over 25,000 people, including the NYC Board of Education, NYPD, NYC AIDS
Hotline, Safe Horizon, St. Vincent's Rape Crisis, EMS, Girl Scouts of
America, Administration for Children's Services, Covenent House, NYU,
New School, Partnership for the Homeless, Visiting Nurse Service, etc.
Safe Place Suicide Survivor Groups
are free, monthly "peer support" meetings for those people who have lost
a loved one to suicide who seek a "safe" and comfortable setting where
they can share their feelings and express their fears, conflicts and pain
with others who are responding to the same issues and problems.
Contract Services and Consultations
provide "technical assistance" on a sliding scale to schools, agencies
and corporations that require individually tailored crisis communication
and suicide prevention programs to meet their organization and staff needs
including the NYPD Early Intervention Unit, Emergency Medical Services
EAP, GMHC Client Services, NYC Human Resources Association, NYC Health
& Hospitals Corporation, NYC Department of Education, etc.
Samaritans has been featured in a New York Magazine cover story,
in pieces in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Daily News, NY
Post, Newsday and Oprah Magazine, on MTV and Prime
Time Live, Good Morning America (their major series on depression)
and PBS, which devoted a program to the work of our Executive Director,
Alan Ross. We have also been seen on Nightline, Fox News, CNN, ABC
World News, NY#1 and all major NYC news stations.
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