A national mental health crisis and suicide prevention hotline is scheduled to become operational next month. Lexington Council Member Richard Moloney talked about local implementation during this week’s work session. Moloney said he hopes the city can be a leader in offering assistance for those facing such a crisis.
“I mean we do do a lot of things before anybody else does and we do it right. We did the seatbelt. We’ve done the smoking ban. But to me, this is a very serious crisis. Suicide. And that affects everybody around this horseshoe. It affects everybody in this community,” said Moloney.
Moloney said friends of his have died of suicide this year. Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said her administration has been working with state officials on getting the 9-8-8 number up and running as soon as possible. She said her office is also reaching out to local agencies.
“We have already met initially with some of our mental health and domestic violence partners to look at what we can do locally for a coalition here,” said Gorton.
Gorton said Lexington doesn’t currently have a substantial coalition of providers and experts. The mayor added mental health-suicide concerns are related to some of the violence occurring in Fayette County.
