Embrace, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization (NGO) that raises awareness about mental health, launched in September the first national suicide prevention hotline in Lebanon. Currently in its pilot phase, the hotline will officially launch at the end of October and will be able to receive up to 150 calls a month.

Suicide rates in Lebanon are lower than in other countries. According to a World Health Organization study last updated in June, the suicide rate in Lebanon for 2015 stood at 3.1 per 100,000 people compared with 14.3 per 100,000 people in the United States for the same year. But lower suicide rates do not mean the issue should be taken lightly, and mental health issues such as depression should be prevented and treated before they become an epidemic.

This is why Embrace, launched in 2013 as an affiliation of the Department of Psychiatry of the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) and an independent NGO since this year, decided to raise awareness about mental issues in Lebanon. “One of four Lebanese will suffer from a mental illness during his life but won’t necessarily seek help because of the social stigma and also the [high] prices of available care,” Mia Atoui, a psychologist and co-founder of Embrace, told Al-Monitor.

“Until now, we provided information and also funds to patients. Our latest project is a hotline whose goal is to address individual suicide crisis through active listening and suicide risk assessment,” she added. The project is at its pilot phase and will be officially active at the end of the month. It is now run by around 30 volunteers who were trained by international professionals with experience in prevention hotlines and local trainers and is active every day from 12 p.m. until 2 a.m. They are receiving about two to three calls on average per day.