If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.” As a teenager, Rei Scott spent several weeks living out of a car with four family members and their dog. Each day, Scott worried about where they would spend the following night.
Someone in America dies by suicide every 11 minutes. It’s a tragic and entrenched problem.
A new approach to prevention shifts the focus from stopping harm in moments of crisis to upstream policies that give people reasons to live. One day at school, Scott snuck away to the bathroom and called the national suicide hotline.
Scott, who is transgender and nonbinary, explained to the hotline counselor that the family had struggled with poverty for years. They had lived in crumbling homes with water leaks, or a family member’s basement with no privacy.
Sometimes the family worried about having enough food. The stress and anxiety were constant, and Scott had been suicidal many times.
The counselor seemed shocked into silence, Scott said.
KFF Health News published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 12 May 2026.
The item focuses on Low Wages, Empty Plates, Heavy Toll: Rethinking Suicide Prevention.
Review the original article for the full source wording and details.