September is Suicide Prevention Month, and a North Texas organization said it wants to make sure people in crisis know they are available 24/7 to reach out to. The Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas is a crisis intervention hotline that’s available 24/7. They have trained counselors an d volunteers available day and night to respond to calls. They said last year they received about 1,500. They also provide group sessions. The organization, which has been around since 1968, has a new executive director, Lavida Davison. She lost her nephew to suicide two years ago and has since dedicated her time to help others and their families. “They didn’t realize that, hey, we do have a local hotline that we can call. We do have local place where I can go to get the support that I need. My goal is to see that even expand and grow larger. Right now we have the support group. I’m looking doing a support group for the kids. If you lose your sibling or something like that, we got to reach all age groups. It just can’t be a specific group because, believe it or not, this is hitting everyone, regardless of our race, regardless of our financial stability, it’s hitting us all,” said Davison. The Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas said it’s one of 80 centers nationwide to have an American Association of Suicidology Certification. The non-profit is participating in North Texas Giving Day, a large fundraiser for thousands of non-profits. Davison said the donations from North Texas Giving Day is one of their main sources of revenue to provide resources. According to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, 48,824 Americans died by suicide in 2024. It’s the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. AFSP said there were an estimated 2.2 million suicide attempts in 2024, which was an increase from 2023. ...read more read less