The Pueblo Suicide Prevention Center, Inc. (PSPC) was incorporated in March 1968 for the purpose of establishing a 24-hour emergency suicide intervention hotline. The organization was started by 23 citizens, comprised of Colorado State Hospital Physicians and community leaders. These citizens came together in response to a need, identified through the Colorado State Hospital, to offer an intervention system that would deffuse potential high-risk situations with an immediate and easily accessible method. This response was viewed as a direct preventive measure to decrease suicide attempts and actual suicide related deaths.

In 1976, PSPC became a member of the American Association of Suicidology and began a nine year, comprehensive goal to achieve national certification. The Pueblo Suicide Prevention Center in the spring of 1979, became an independent entity (this was primarily due to the change of direction of state mental health screening policies) Also, in 1979, the American Association of Suicidolgy requested that PSPC become the Region 8 Coordinator for Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, North and South Dakota.

In the Spring of 1985, PSPC became the first Certified Center of the American Association of Suicidiology in the State of Colorado; PSPC remains the only Certified Center in the State. The Center is one of eighty-two certified center in Northern America including Canada.

In 1989 Pueblo Suicide Prevention Center started its first program that interacts directly with victims. This is the Senior Victims Support Program. This program deals with senior citizens, ages sixty years and up, who have been victims of burglary, robbery or assault. A home visit is made to each victim to assess the amount of trauma the crisis caused. A packet of information is also given to each senior detailing services in the community that are available to them. Weekly contact and counseling is provided as long as needed.

In 1991, PSPC started the only teen Helpline, staffed by teen volunteers, in the State of Colorado. The teenline operates from 4p.m. to 9p.m. Monday through Thursday, when the teenline is not staffed it is forwarded to the Colorado Helpline.

In 1994, by a request of our County Commissioners, PSPC began providing rape crisis services to Pueblo County. The past program had lost its funding and we were asked if we could provide the services along with the hotline for a while. The Rape Crisis program included trained volunteers on the 24 hour Helpline, in office counseling for victims, family members and friends and educational presentations. All assistance through PSPC is provided at no charge/donation basis.

January 1997 PSPC started the only Sexual Assault Nursing Examiner/Sexual Assault Response Team (SANE/SART) program in Southern Colorado. This is a service that had never been provided to victims of sexual assault in this area. The program takes the victims out of the regular emergency setting and provides them with a more comfortable, less traumatic environment for both the examination and forensic evidence collection procedures. This procedure is done by a skilled nurse specifically trained in sexual assault forensic evidence collection and special equipment, along with the on-scene rape crisis counselor who works as a team with the nurse and District Attorney's Victims Assistant staff. In December of 1998, the PSPC staff and Board of Director's felt the Rape Crisis program had grown enough that they could go on their own. So PSPC assisted in transferring the Rape/SANE/SART program over to itself to be its own agency, in which we now refer and use as a regular agency. The Pueblo Suicide Prevention Center still provides victims support counseling through the Helpline and occasional one to one counseling on rape or sexual assault usually as a past victim situation.

Pueblo Suicide Prevention Center's Director in 1999 was asked to join the Colorado Governor's Suicide Prevention Commission. During the next several years she worked on the development of the Colorado Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan, served on the first Board of Directors for the New Colorado Suicide Prevention Division. The Office of Suicide Prevention now works with all the suicide prevention activities within the state of Colorado in conjunction with the Colorado Suicide Prevention Coalition and PSPC works as their primary hotline through the 1-800-SUICIDE hotline.

In 2000, as an AAS certified center, PSPC joined with the national 1-800-SUICIDE hotline. Because we are the only certified center in Colorado we contracted to take all of the Colorado calls from the national hotlines (1-800-273-TALK and 1-800-SUICIDE). In 2005, we also began taking calls for the National Lifeline as well for all of the states. Also, in 2004 PSPC did the first volunteer training with the Mile High United Way in Denver for the first state 211 information line. We now work a a crisis back up number for all of the 211 programs in the state.

Today, PSPC is the only nationally certified suicide prevention agency in Colorado. It is one of less than 100 certified centers in all of North America.

Serving the Colorado community for more than 40 years, PSPC is a full-service crisis center. Services include teen and adult hotlines, in-office counseling with a licensed counselor, support groups for families of suicides, rape and assault counseling, and senior-victim services. PSPC employs four staff that are assisted by volunteers. In 1990, PSPC was contacted by the national suicide helpline and was asked to provide staffing for the
1-800-SUICIDE crisis line for the State of Colorado. Today, it is still the only certified center in the State authorized to take calls from Colorado callers on the National Hotline. In the past 10 years, Colorado has ranked in the top ten states in rates of suicide. More than 9,600 Coloradoans contemplate taking their own lives each year. In 2006, 23 Pueblo County residents took their own lives.