Quinto: Teen Suicide And The Trevor Project

Sunday night, Amber Heard (The Playboy Club) and Star Trek XI‘s Zachary Quinto appeared at Trevor Live for the Trevor Project where they read letters and emails from teens struggling with their sexual identity who had been helped by the Trevor Project.

The Trevor Lifeline & Chat is a place where trained counselors are available 24/7 to assist young people who “are in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk.”

Quinto shared a story about fifteen-year-old Corey, who had called a counselor from the woods where he had gone to kill himself. “He had a long history of suicide attempts…,” said Quinto. “On the call, he was sitting in the woods with a knife to his throat.”

The counselor was able to persuade to go home to get the help he needed. “Though Corey had suicidal thoughts and was very depressed early in the call, he began to express his intense interest in computer programming,” said Quinto. “The more that the Trevor counselor encouraged him and provided verbal affirmation of his talent, the more Corey opened up.

“By the end of the call, Corey was feeling good. He expressed to the counselor, ‘You probably saved my life with this call. You probably don’t know this, but you just gave me a lot of reasons to live.”

The Trevor Lifeline and TrevorChat website is located here.