SF supervisors hear evidence of rising acuity in suicide and domestic-violence crises during COVID-19; advocates warn of budget cuts

San Francisco supervisors heard testimony May 28 from suicide-prevention and domestic-violence advocates who raised concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic has altered how people seek help: although crisis-line volumes have fallen since shelter-in-place began, callers who require immediate intervention have increased.

Laina Schaff, interim director of San Francisco Suicide Prevention (now part of the Felton Institute), told the committee the organization answered "over 82,000" calls last year, up from about 56,000 the previous year, and described a puzzling regional pattern since shelter-in-place: overall call volume declined, but caller acuity rose — observers reported people with concrete plans to harm themselves moving from levels of 1–3 per month to 1–3 per week. Schaff said the hotline expanded remote…