Rising Epidemic of Teen Suicide: What One Hometown Hero Is Doing
18October

Rising Epidemic of Teen Suicide: What One Hometown Hero Is Doing

Written by Cristo Rogers, Posted on , in Section Hero New

Amy Zell's 16-year-old son took his life. Now Amy is doing everything she can to make sure no parent from her hometown of Hubbard, Ohio ever endures the pain of losing a child to suicide, again. Her mission to help local depressed and suicidal teenagers have many locals from Amy's area calling her a 'hometown hero.'

Saving teens from the epidemic of suicide

Amy Zell is the coordinator of teen and virtual services at the Hubbard Public Library. She states that she loves what she does because she gets to work one-on-one with depressed teenagers every day. Her specialty? Helping teens overcome suicidal tendencies.

Zell, who lost her son to suicide on November 15, 2009, says that the loss gave her a purpose in life: saving the lives of teens who feel as though they have run out of options.

Amy got her heroic start with the American Association of Suicide Prevention, where she began the Trevent Fund (endearingly named after her son's favorite gaming name). The non-profit fund helps teens who are contemplating suicide and provides assistance to those who know someone who is contemplating suicide.

Being there for suicidal teens 

On how she assists teens in their time of need Amy says, “We work with them to help them identify what resources they have in the community.”

In addition to starting a dialogue of suicide prevention, The Trevent Fund provides communities with events and various programs that help raise awareness of suicide prevention.  However, Zell says her biggest contribution to teens is calling or texting with those who are in need of someone to talk to.

"I could get a text at 2 in the morning from someone I’ve never talked to before. I had a person once who sent me a text and said, ‘My boyfriend said if I’m ever sad, text this number. I don’t know who you are, but will you talk to me?'” She said. 

Zell states that texting teens have a huge impact, because according to her, teens  will sometimes have difficulty with talking face to face or over the phone directly. 

“They’ll text for a couple of days, and when they feel better, they’ll stop. So that’s one of the things we can do because we’re not one of those big organizations,” she said.

Zell says that preventing loved ones and victims of suicide from the heartache she once felt are the reason she continues her mission. 

For further reading...

Hometown Hero helps teens contemplating suicide

HUBBARD, Ohio (WYTV) – This week’s Hometown Hero works around the clock to help prevent what happened to her son from happening to other teens.

For further reading: http://wytv.com/2016/09/21/hometown-hero-helps-teens-contemplating-suicide/