Austin company prevents suicide online

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Standing before a SXSW panel in Downtown Austin, Paolo Sambrano, 23, explained how he used a LiveJournal post online to leave his last words.

"That was me," Sambrano said. "I was trying to write suicide notes on my LiveJournal."

Austin-based Emotion Technology CEO Chris Gandin Le listened to Sambrano explain the reasoning behind his post – he was reaching out for help. Gandin Le works with social web companies and policymakers to promote mental health and prevent suicide online, but he has hit a major roadblock.

"There is no online crisis-counseling yet, and we are looking to help create that," Gandin Le said. "The biggest challenge is going to be the financial backing behind it."

Individual companies, like YouTube, have their own methods by educating their users. Since the YouTube Safety Center launched a year-and-a-half ago, it has had hundreds of thousands of page views - more than 20,000 of those just about suicide.

"We have such a large amount of content posted online that it's really difficult for someone inside the company to be able to identify when there is a potential crisis,” said YouTube spokesperson Amy Wright. “What we do have on our site is our community, and our community is super engaged and super active. When they see a problem, they know what to do."

Sambrano's suicide attempt was obviously unsuccessful. Since then, he has bounced back with a one-man show about the experience and what he learned.

Still, he applauded the panel's efforts and wondered if things would have been different for him had such a system existed then.

"I wish there were more resources in place," he added. "I wish people were more empathetic to what was going on."

If you or someone is having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Your call will be routed to the nearest crisis center to you.