Utah’s largest suicide prevention programs have seen a dramatic increase in calls to their hotline following the suicide deaths last week of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade.
On Friday alone, there was a 30 to 40 percent increase in call volume to the CrisisLine run by the University of Utah’s Neuropsyhiatric Institute (UNI), according to crisis services manager Barry Rose. Calls to the hotline — which can be reached at 801-587-3000 — were still about 10 percent higher than normal Monday, he said.
“There is help out there for people,” Rose said. “So many people don’t know that and they are trying to handle these things alone, but there are options.