Can a suicide hotline help California’s Native Americans?

From 2018 to 2021, 109 Native Americans took their own lives in California.

Can the new national hotline help save some lives?

This week in Sacramento, Assemblymember James Ramos, a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe who is the first Native American to be elected to the state Assembly, partnered with Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services to promote the 988 national suicide prevention hotline to Northern California tribal communities. 

Several Native American and health care organizations also joined the Wednesday event. It followed a similar summit in February for Southern California tribal communities.

• Ramos, a Highland Democrat: “Non-Native Americans often subscribe to the notion that we are all one culture, one language, one set of traditions. California has more than a 100 tribes, and each one is different. It is why I applaud Didi Hirsch for reaching out to the state’s tribal communities to hear how best to make 988 the effective, life-saving tool it is meant to be.”

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