The death of actor Robin Williams and the accompanying media reports have led to a huge increase in the number of people calling suicide crisis hotlines, USA Today reports. Dozens of crisis hotlines around the country have reported a surge in callers who wish to either seek advice for themselves or a family member.
The coverage of the actor's death has also led more people to volunteer as mental health advocates. According to USA Today, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline saw more people call in on Monday, the day Williams' death was announced, than in its history. John Draper, project director at the National Lifeline, told USA Today that on Tuesday calls increased even more, doubling its usual volume.
Draper explained that the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline only receives about 12 percent of crisis calls and the rest get rerouted to local centers around the country. According to various media reports, those local centers also saw a surge in callers.
"The more people who are calling, the more lives will be saved," Draper told USA Today.
Besides calling suicide crisis hotlines, it's been reported that local and national mental health advocacy groups also saw a huge increase in callers. Not only that, but a lot of people reached out to various centers through social media and email.
According to National Alliance on Mental Illness spokeswoman Katrina Gay, their Facebook "likes" jumped from 91,000 to 1.4 million and they received double the amount of emails.
"People in general don't share. They don't talk to their friends and colleagues [about mental illness], they don't share at work," Gay told the Washington Post. "It's almost like collectively, from the grassroots way, that somebody turned on the faucet. They feel sad, and they feel stirred. There's a lot of stirring that I've noticed, that mental illness affects almost everyone, and that's something people have been opening up about."
Important phone numbers:
National Alliance on Mental Illness- (800) 950-NAMI (6264)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline- 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
