The 1-800-SUICIDE hopeline and the Bush Administration have reached a compromise in the conflict over privacy which began in late July. The organization has secured a review of their federal funding, a process which has been in limbo for more than two years. As a result of our agreement, the Kristin Brooks Hope Center will be able to continue to provide help and hope through the Youth America Hotline (YAH!) And the other specialty hotlines it created.
However, KBHC agreed to donate 1-800-SUICIDE to the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, an agency within the Health and Human Services Agency. While the government agency will control the line, the charity promises that the line will still remain confidential and that it will advocate for the privacy rights of callers and the crisis centers that take those calls.
Thank you for taking the time and responding to save1800suicide.org's call to action. Our voices were heard by the press, the blogs, Congress, and most importantly the federal government. With your help in the 11th hour, our month long campaign worked and we have reached an agreement and will finally get our governement grant funding reviewed.
This is a huge relief to the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and their lawyers that have been working on trying to get this federal government claim reviewed and processed on for over 2 years -
We can not thank everyone enough who took time over the last month and contributed to our effort. We sincerely appreciate your tireless efforts contacting the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration and asking them to properly adjudicate our claim.
As a result of our agreement, the Kristin Brooks Hope Center will be able to continue to provide help and hope through the Youth America Hotline (YAH!) And the other specialty hotlines it created.
However, KBHC agreed to donate 1-800-SUICIDE to the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, an agency within the Health and Human Services Agency.
We will work to assure the public that the line will still remain confidential and will advocate for the privacy rights of callers and the crisis centers that take those calls. Without your support, letters, petitions and donations we could not have made this transition happen.
The purpose of the donation was to preserve not only 1-800-SUICIDE as a resource for all Americans, but also to preserve the KBHCâs 19 other hotlines which combined receive over 24,000 calls a year. The 1-800-SUICIDE hotline continues to receive over 400,000 calls a year. In the 8 years 1-800-SUICIDE has been operational KBHC routed 2,012,072 callers up to the day it turned over responsibility to the government for maintaining the line for the good of the American public.
The decision to donate the line to the federal government was not an easy one.
We will report back to you after the claim is reviewed and processed to let you know the outcomes. If the review is not fair and balanced, and or fails to follow the OMB rules we will note that as well and ask that you bring additional pressure onto this agency.
As KBHC has over 15 separate programs, our survival as an independent agency is very important to many underserved population groups. The greatest need lies in the area of peer counseling lines such as the Teen-to-Teen Youth America Hotline 1-877-YOUTHLINE and the new veterans PTSD 1-877-Vet-2-Vet hotline.
The work and cost of supporting 1-800-SUICIDE consumed our agency and prevented us from addressing these, as well as other key and critically underserved populations.
The KBHC has demonstrated and committed many years of service to people in crisis everywhere: Building now on this foundation of having helped over 2 million callers in its first 8 years, KBHC looks forward now to exceeding even this extraordinary level of service.
Special Thanks to http://www.postsecret.com/ http://www.cmj.com/ /, http://www.republicoft.com/ http://www.taylormarsh.com/, http://www.riseagainst.com/, & www.theakas.com/