A Closer Look at the Crisis Intervention Hotline

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – In a nation where the population is small enough that the whole country sometimes feels like a small town, it can often hit much closer to home when we hear about someone in our community taking their own life.

The National Hotline for Crisis Intervention is a hotline for many purposes including reporting child abuse, seeking housing assistance, counseling and suicide prevention.

Anne Edwards is the Assistant Director with the Department of Social Services, with responsibility for the Children Services Division which oversees the national hotlines.

Seanalea Lewis has been part of the hotline since its inception over a decade ago and is one of the 20-something volunteers currently in the rotation.

While numbers have ebbed and flowed over the years, there is a marked jump between 2019’s 11 calls and nearly double that the following year, after the effects of the devastation of hurricane Dorian in the northern Bahamas and the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns had catastrophic results for the mental health of many around the nation.

Numbers have stayed higher since then, with last year having 23 suicide prevention calls.

The national hotline for crisis intervention operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.