Suicide prevention hotline comes to Samo, discusses partnership with Freshman Seminar

The Trevor Project - a suicide prevention hotline created in 1998 that became widely known after recent gay suicides - visited Samo to talk with students and teachers about preventing other teen suicides.Officials from the Trevor Project, a national “youth crisis intervention service,” came to Samo on Jan. 12 to do workshops in various classes about teen suicide prevention. The Trevor Project, which focuses primarily on assisting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youths, has become a widely known resource since the succession of gay teen suicides late last year.“Our workload went through the roof after the teen suicides,” Benjamin Morgan, a program manager who works for Universal Studios, said. “We’ve been doing these ‘lifeguard workshops’ — called that because we only give resources, not answers — at schools and workplaces way more.”On the same day, Morgan and his co-official Sara Train convened with selected teachers, staff and administration in Spanish teacher Kelly Bates’ room to discuss the possible partnership between the Project and Freshman Seminar classes.“Our job is to help people through the journey of life,” Train said. “The workshop we offer usually has us telling the students about the warning signs of suicide, then asking about specific situations and what you could do to help.”Social Outreach Specialist Kimberly Nao suggested that the Trevor Project could elongate its presentation over a few days, perhaps periodically over a few weeks, so the message could sink in.The Trevor Project tends to be associated solely with its Lifeline service, which is a hotline open all day, every day for LGBTQ teens who have questions, for parents whose children recently came out or for teens who have a plan for suicide and are calling to “say goodbye.” The people on the other end of the line are trained counselors who know exactly what to say to soothe the caller.However, the Lifeline is one of five programs the Project runs. Trevor Chat is an instant messaging version of the Lifeline; Trevor Space is a monitored social network where, whenever someone talks about hurting themselves, the moderators know; and Dear Trevor is a non-time-sensitive help service similar to a newspaper’s “Dear Abby” column. The Project also offers Survival Kits — “lifeguard” workshops in printed form — for people in areas of the U.S. without facilitators.For more information about these programs, visit trevorproject.org.Evan KahnCopy Editorekahn@thesamohi.com