By Howard Goldstein
The proposed Nassau County cuts to Youth Services would have crippled an already budget-slashed organization and would have almost certainly resulted in the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week suicide hotline, the only one of its kind on Long Island, being shut down.
Fortunately for Long Island's disenfranchised, the county retracted the cuts. And the hotline, once on the chopping block, has now expanded its influence.
The Long Island Crisis Center recently received certification from the American Association of Suicidology, a group that studies suicide trends and prevention, and networks prevention groups.
A representative from AAS visited the Bellmore headquarters on Martin Avenue in August to examine the crisis center's qualifications.
Out of 148 possible points, the LI Crisis Center scored 142, the 96th percentile among all AAS-certified organizations.
The certification did not come as a surprise to crisis center Director Theresa Buhse. "The center has done suicide prevention counseling and offered a 24-hour suicide hotline for 30 years," she said.
"Nothing in our approach is going to change. The prestige is nice, but the main benefit is that being officially AAS certified, we are now connected to 1-800 network. All calls to 1-800-SUICIDE from Nassau and Suffolk counties automatically route to the center now," she said.
In addition, the crisis center will serve as backup for New York City. When Helpline, the NYC prevention organization, is busy, calls forward to the crisis center.
The staff expects this routing system to supply an additional two to three calls per day, and about 90 more per month. This amounts to many more lives that may be saved through the crisis center's extensively trained staff.
The AAS prevention number, 1-800-SUICIDE, is widely advertised, easy to remember, and even people who have never heard of the helpline may randomly try 1-800-SUICIDE.
The American Association of Suicidology does not provide funding for any of the organizations it certifies, but it also no longer charges for certification.
"The AAS used to charge $500 for certification," said crisis center Executive Director Linda Leonard, "but they just got a certification grant, so they no longer charge."
Although the AAS does not supply cash to the Long Island Crisis Center, it provides invaluable publicity.
"They advertise extensively for 1-800-SUICIDE. That's a lot of time and cost we don't have to worry about, since all Long Island callers now get automatically put through to us. We advertise too, but the more that's out there, the more people can be reached, and we don't have enough money to advertise as much as we would like," said Buhse.
According to the Long Island Crisis Center, suicide is the number-two cause of death among young people ages 14 to 24, after accidents.
Another high demographic group is the elderly, especially the alone and infirm. Whereas most youth suicide is active, elderly suicide is usually passive, such as intentionally not taking a life-saving medication.
"Gay and lesbian youth are probably the most at risk of any group. Over 30 percent of successful youth suicides are gay and lesbian. One, there is a lot of self-hate from internalized homophobia and lack of acceptance," said Leonard.
The Long Island Crisis Center works closely with Pride for Youth, a Bellmore-based gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender program, and refers many homosexual callers to this supportive and open organization.
"Suicide cases arise from feelings of helplessness and hopelessness," said Buhse.
About 20 to 30 percent of all callers to the crisis center mention suicide, according to Leonard.
"When suicide is mentioned," said Buhse," we employ Lethality Assessment, an ancient crisis center secret in which we look for six pieces of information to rate how likely the person is to take suicidal action and what our response should be."
"The key," she continued," is to get them to recognize something positive and have a goal, even if it's just getting through the night and calling a therapist in the morning. We also try to establish a Suicide Contract, in which they promise to call back if they feel like harming themselves."
For many people, just having a non-judgmental voice on the other end can make a major difference. "People are talked out of their feelings in everyday life," sighs Leonard. "We are about validation...of people and their feelings."
For more information about the crisis center , call (516) 826-0244.
The suicide hotline is 1-800-SUICIDE, and anonymous counseling is also available at (516) 679-1111.
