World Suicide Prevention Day starts at El Paso’s 9-8-8 call center

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. Bottom line? There is help out there, and it's just a phone call away. It doesn't matter where you are. It doesn't matter how bad things seem. There is always a way out. The challenge here is getting this message to everyone. 9-8-8 is the number to call. It's free, and people answer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in English and Spanish.

We spoke with Stacey Contreras, director of El Paso's 9-8-8 call center, and learned that people often don't call because they're worried about what people will think of them, or say to others - especially family.

"Culturally, this is something people shy away from because we have expectations and don't want to disappoint our families.  As family members maybe we don't know how to approach it when it comes to our loved ones. But we do need to have a safe space outside of our families and 9-8-8 provides that, Contreras says. She's worked at the call center for 7 years, and says the number of callers has tripled.

"The more people are exposed to those resources, the more education we will have...no one will get in trouble," Contreras adds. With 21 people answering the calls, she says this is more than a suicide hotline. It's for anyone who needs help.

"This is for any type of crisis - daily stresses add up and if you don't know how to process or deal....It's important even if we're not there yet. We have to have a space that's safe to talk about these things." Contreras wants people to know that because the call center is part of Emergence Health Network's services, calls can be linked to other services they may need, and quickly. For more information click here https://emergencehealthnetwork.org/