MBTA Relaunches Suicide Prevention Campaign

By Colin Young, State House News Service

The MBTA is reviving a partnership that aims to connect people feeling desperate and considering hurting themselves to a support organization, T officials said, in an effort to reduce the number of MBTA-assisted suicide attempts.

The T will again use the digital displays in its stations to direct people to Samaritans Inc., a suicide prevention organization that operates a 24/7 help line, and this winter will hang permanent signs in some stations, T Chief Operating Officer Jeff Gonneville said Monday.

"Unfortunately this time of year, when the days get shorter and the holidays approach, we see more suicides and attempted suicides on the MBTA," Gonneville said. "Earlier this year the authority partnered with the Samaritans to bring awareness and get the message out on our system that help is out there to anyone feeling desperate or just needs someone to talk to."

The T has made the Samaritans' information available at stations before, Gonneville said, and data from Samaritans signaled that the campaign was successful in boosting awareness.

"The results were a 200 percent increase in Samaritans' monthly text conversations ... (and) a 50 percent increase in their phone call conversations during the time our campaign was active," he said.

When an MBTA train hits a person who unlawfully enters the track or pit area, the T refers to it as a "trespasser strike" and "in most cases it is a suicide," Gonneville said Monday. Last week, Orange Line service was delayed for two hours after a man "tragically took his own life" at Ruggles, he said.