TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – A new Teen Lifeline call center opened in Tucson this summer, bringing Arizona’s only peer-to-peer teen crisis hotline closer to southern Arizona youth struggling with mental health challenges.
The launch coincides with September being National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a reminder of the ongoing silent struggle affecting families in every community.
According to the Arizona Department of Health, although fewer adults in Arizona suffer from depression compared to the national average, the state’s suicide rate is 50% higher than the national rate. About one million Arizonans have direct experience with suicide, meaning they or a loved one have faced suicidal thoughts, made an attempt, or lost their life to suicide…