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A teen’s friend was depressed. So depressed that the teen feared his friend might attempt suicide.
If you’ve ever worried about a loved one, you know the tremendous weight of this situation. The paralyzing moments of internal debate. Was it just talk? Or would they? What if?
What if your next decision could save their life?
This time, it did.
The teen decided to call the Boys Town National Hotline. No one knew, then, how close they were to being too late.
Making the Call
With a phone number provided by the teen, the Boys Town National Hotline crisis counselor called the friend. At first his voice was calm, but as he opened up to the crisis counselor a far more alarming picture emerged.
The young man had thoughts of suicide and a plan.
Hearing those words, the crisis counselor signaled for a senior crisis counselor to join the call. It’s standard procedure when suicide is a concern. With 25 years of Hotline experience, senior crisis counselor John Settles knew they had to be prepared for anything.
“It could be something very simple…but it can also be an extremely intense situation where we need to do lifesaving interventions.”
As the crisis counselors talked and listened, the young man’s voice became strained. It was quickly clear why.
“During the middle of the call, he actually began acting on those thoughts and was strangling himself while we were continuing to talk to him and try to get him help.”
Rushing to Respond
Every second counted. But unlike 9-1-1, the Boys Town National Hotline cannot track a caller’s location. Fortunately, the friend who called had shared the young man’s name and high school. That enabled the senior crisis counselor to quickly contact school officials for his address.
“It was a very intense situation. We knew we needed to get to this young man as quickly as possible.”
With emergency responders en route, the crisis counselors remained focused on keeping the young man on the line, gently asking for bits of information — such as his location inside the house and whether any weapons were present.
Nearly 45 minutes after beginning the call, the crisis counselors heard first responders breaking down a bedroom door, a frantic mother close behind.
The rush of help. The sound of safety.
“There was just a lot of relief from the crisis counselor, myself, the child’s mother. You could just tell that everybody was suddenly relieved from the situation being resolved safely.”
Hiding in Plain Sight
Because a friend decided to make the call, the Hotline team could respond, and a young man received help before it was too late.
Instead of experiencing an unimaginable loss, the youth’s family could focus on his healing.
The sad truth is that people — young and old — are good at hiding their pain, even from those they love most.
“This mom was unaware of what was going on upstairs in her house. Her own child was attempting to end his life. So it’s important to understand that anybody in your life could be struggling with those kinds of issues and you wouldn’t even know it.
“That’s why the work we do at the Hotline is so important. We save lives.”
Answering Every Call
Last year, Boys Town National Hotline crisis counselors talked to more than 106,600 people in distress and stopped 459 suicides in progress. Heartbreakingly, more than half of those calls — 230 — involved children.
This was one.
But more than once a day, the Hotline team stops an active suicide.
“People are in desperate need of mental health care at times, and they don’t know where to obtain it from. We can often be their last resort to get the help they need and deserve to see another day — and to continue getting ongoing services to make it better, so they don’t get to this point again.”
Accredited by the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), the Boys Town National Hotline has Spanish-speaking counselors and translation services for more than 100 languages. Calls and texts come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Territories and Canada.
“It’s important for families to know that this resource is available to them at all times. It’s a 24/7, every day of the year hotline that can be used for support, advice, resources.”
Everyday Heroes
On the other end of the line, the Boys Town National Hotline crisis counselors are always ready.
While they don’t wear capes, they do feel the importance of what they do. Settles smiled when reflecting on moments like these.
“I don’t necessarily flaunt it, but sometimes it feels like we’ve done some pretty good work.”
Later, this call would be reviewed and used for training new crisis counselors. Remarkably, it had been the crisis counselor’s first solo call after completing training — a testament to the preparation, supervision and systems that help Hotline crisis counselors respond when every second matters.
But on this day, with several calls happening around them in their west Omaha office, the crisis counselors who saved this young man took a moment.
Then they moved on to the next call.
“Boys Town National Hotline…”
Boys Town National Hotline
Reach Out and Get Help
800-448-3000
Text VOICE to 20121
