Locals Seek Support for Suicide Hotline

The Buffalo City Council and Johnson County Commission were approached recently by local suicide prevention specialists to seek their help in getting a local call center for a suicide hot line.

Bill Hawley and Mikel Carmon with the Johnson County Suicide Prevention Coalition, said the current system for helping those in crisis simply isn’t working. Calls to a crisis line are handled at out-of-state crisis centers, where they are not familiar with local resources to help those in crisis.

Also, many times those calling are transferred or put on hold, which defeats the purpose of the crisis line.

Wyoming is the only state that does not have its own suicide prevention help center, and the coalition is wanting help to form a local crisis line in <span class=”player fa fa-play” onclick=”playSound(this, ‘/audio/2020/01-17-41.mp3’);”> Johnson County. </span>

Hawley asked the council to consider the local call center, and to advocate for funding for a state crisis center.

It was reported this week that Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon recommended that $400,000 be set aside by the legislature to fund a state suicide prevention hotline.