IOWA: National partnership to allow Crisis Center chat services 24/7

February 13, 2015

News Type:  Weekly Spark, Weekly Spark News
Speaker:  Iowa

The Iowa City Press-Citizen

In partnership with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Johnson County’s Crisis Center is now able to expand its suicide prevention services. A two-year federal contract will support adding new staff to make the Crisis Center’s online chat service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Since the Crisis Center is part of the Lifeline’s network of hotline providers, this expansion helps the Lifeline to increase access to online, text-based counseling. “The demand is so incredibly high, and it’s just clear that this is very much a needed service,” said Rachel Beach, the crisis chat coordinator for the Crisis Center. “There are people who are just not comfortable calling the hotline or don’t have the ability to call Lifeline. Some have easier access to the Internet than to a phone.”

Spark Extra! Learn about the expanding world of crisis lines in the SPRC Spotlight on Crisis Services for Suicide Prevention.