In 1970, a UNM student went to Frank Logan, a research psychologist, to seek help for depression. He was turned away, said Molly McCoy Brack, director of Agora.
He was directed to the Student Health Center, where he was told he'd have to return in a few weeks, she said.
The student went home and shot himself, Brack said. She said he didn't feel like anyone cared.
As a result, Logan joined a group of UNM students in the push for the development of Agora, the oldest student-run crisis center in the United States.
Samuel Roll, professor emeritus in the Psychology Department, said although he was new to UNM at the time, Logan asked him to assist in running the center.
Agora has about 80 volunteers who receive 40 hours of training to handle crisis calls.
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Roll said he's heard numerous accounts of Agora being the result of the Kent State massacre, during which National Guardsmen killed four students at an anti-Vietnam War protest in Ohio.
Roll still remembers some of the center's calls.
"A person would call up every night and, in a wispy voice, say 'good night,'" he said.
Roll said volunteers suspected a crank-caller or even a pervert on the other line. But they didn't dismiss the call or hang up. Instead, volunteers said "good night" and told the caller they'd be available the next evening.
"Eventually, we found out it was a little boy on the line," Roll said. "His parents were prominent professionals in the community and were too busy to put this little boy to bed."
The boy was lonely and found comfort in talking to volunteers, a situation Roll called sad and dear.
Another time a man called the center on Good Friday.
"He asked if anyone knew how to cook a ham," he said.
Rather than giving him the recipe, volunteers talked with the caller and found out he had lost his wife.
"His wife had always done the holiday cooking," Roll said. "This man didn't need a recipe. He needed to talk about the difficulty he'd had after losing his lifelong soul mate."
The caller eventually got the recipe. He cooked dinner and spent Easter with volunteers at Agora.
Brack said it's important to recognize Agora isn't a counseling service.
"We're a listening service," she said. "We do a lot of referrals for services that are beyond our domain."
Such a case involved a science professor who began sensitivity groups, during which individuals can open up and discuss their feelings freely.
"He held himself very rigidly," Roll said.
When the man finally opened up, he shared feelings of rage and violent urges that the group took seriously. They were able to get him to a hospital, where he was away from the firearms in his home, Roll said.
He said the key isn't to solve someone's problems, but to open up a dialogue that shows concern for the person in need.
"People want human contact, not answers," Roll said.
Help hotlines
National suicide hotline
1-800-SUICIDE
Agora Crisis Center
277-3013
agora@unm.edu
UNM Counseling and Therapy Services
277-4537
UNM Psychiatric Center
by referral:
272-4763
