Helpline: suicide prevention at a suicide site.
In an effort to reduce the number of suicides from the Mid-Hutson Bridge in Poughkeepsie, New York, the Dutchess County Department of Mental Hygiene and the New York State Bridge Authority jointly established a suicide prevention phone on the bridge, which is directly connected to a 24-hour psychiatric emergency service. This program is the first known one in which a dedicated suicide prevention helpline has been installed at a site of known suicides and linked with a mental health service. After 2 years of operation, the phone has been used 30 times; the data suggest that most would-be jumpers are ambivalent enough about dying that they will reach out for help/contact if the opportunity exists, and, as a consequence, can be saved.
Dutchess County Department of Mental Hygiene, Poughkeepsie, New York.
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Glatt
D000328:Adult; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology; D013689:Telephone; D000092864:Suicide Prevention