TAMPA, Fla. — Sunday marked one year since the launch of the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline.
As predicted, calls for help surged in the last year.
"What they have found is true help, hope and healing when they've needed it the most," Clara Reynolds, Tampa Bay Crisis Center CEO and president, said.
The Tampa Bay Crisis Center saw a more than 200% jump in calls through 988 compared to its previous line: 9,545 calls answered from Hillsborough and Charlotte counties.
Overall, nearly five million calls, texts or chats were answered through 988, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Since the start of the pandemic, mental health experts have reported a surge in demand for services.
"If we can talk about something positive out of the pandemic, it has been this understanding and this awareness that behavioral health is real," Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the new crisis line is just one of several resources to come because of the increase in demand.
Those like Liza Pizarro-Yob said she hopes the calls for help continue after overcoming struggles of her own.
"I got to a place where I felt nothing but hopelessness and I felt so alone," Pizarro-Yob said.
A former member of the crisis center's board of directors herself, she never thought she'd be in need of help one day.
However, a lost job, illness and divorce hit her at once more than a decade ago. One of her daughters called the crisis center for help after Pizarro-Yob tried to take her own life.
Now, she wants to encourage people in need of help to reach out to resources and understand support is available.
"For me, safety was so important and being in a judgment-free zone was so important," Pizarro-Yob said. "I want anybody that's out there that's just feeling hopeless and feeling alone to just be kind to themselves and share."
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34 and 10th overall in the United States.
Learn more about the 988 Suicide Prevention Line by clicking here.