California high school and middle school students will have some lifesaving information at their fingertips as they go back to school this year.
A law that went into effect in July requires schools to print the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on student ID cards for seventh- through 12th-graders in public, private and charter schools.
That number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The law also says that student IDs may have information on the Crisis Text Line — which can be reached by texting HOME to 741741.
The move comes as suicide rates continue to rise in the United States. The suicide rate in 2017 was 33% higher than it was in 1999, according to annual research published in June by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
A study published in the medical journal JAMA found a significant increase in the suicide rates among 15- to 24-year-olds between 2000 and 2017.
Excerpted from “California law puts a suicide hotline number on school ID cards” on CNN.com. Read the full article.
Source: CNN | California law puts a suicide hotline number on school ID cards, https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/14/us/california-suicide-hotline-student-id-trnd/index.html | © 2019 Cable News Network
To get help
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). There is also a crisis text line. For crisis support in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454.
