After two high-profile celebrities, fashion designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain, died by suicide last week, calls to a Tempe-based crisis hotline have increased.
The Crisis Response Network is a nonprofit that provides call center services for those in crisis circumstances, including suicidal thoughts.
Sarah Schol is the call center operations director. She said there’s been a spike in calls over the past week, in part due to increased media coverage on suicide prevention.
“We are predicting it’s going to be a pretty busy, potentially record-breaking year for us,” Schol said.
But Schol added that the hotline is not just for people with suicidal thoughts.
“We allow people to define crisis by what that means to them," Schol said, "and it might be suicidal thoughts but it might also just be severe anxiety or relationship problems, so people can really call for any reason and we’re confidential and we’re free.”
Schol said other factors into call increases include an increase in population, as well as the weather.
Anyone who needs help is encouraged to call the Crisis Response Network at 1-800-631-1314.