Holiday blues hit some hard this year

TAMPA - The sounds of the season are here, but not every sound is upbeat.

This time of the year the suicide rate spikes. The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay handles up to 60 calls from people in distress every week.

David Braughton, the organization's president, said the caller is usually on the edge of an emotional cliff ready to jump.

"One of the areas that we see a huge increase in is the number of people that are having suicidal thoughts.  They've gotten so depressed and so down that there looking up to see bottom, and they think tomorrow is going to more of the same," Braughton explained.

Their last call for help is usually handled by a crisis counselor like Alysha Quinn. She said many callers are in a deep financial hole they see no way out of it.

Quinn knows her job is to give hope to a hopeless situation. If she's successful, the troubled caller will be a return caller.

" When you have a hard call one day, that you know you hear from them a couple of days later saying how much they may have helped.  So that's pretty exciting when you're able to do that for somebody," Quinn added.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says in the last four years, it has investigated 32 jumpers on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. In the last week alone, two people have jumped to their deaths.

At the Crisis Center there is a fixed camera monitoring the bridge and a hotline number those in distress can call.

Or just remember the number 2-1-1. Someone will always be there pick up the phone and hopefully your spirit.

"If you are in despairing over these holidays, you don't have to suffer alone. Call 2-1-1, and we can find you help," Braughton said.