#156 - Gabrielle Diecidue, She Lost Her Best Friend to Gun Violence. Now She's Working to Prevent the Next Tragedy

Scarlett Lewis’s guest is Gabrielle Diecidue, executive director of the Diecidue Family Foundation and founder of the National Violence Prevention Hotline (888-664-6652). This podcast was recorded on June 10, the anniversary of Gabrielle's best friend, Bella Thallas, being murdered by a man who opened fire over a dispute about a dog.Gabrielle shares how the hotline provides crisis counseling to people on the pathway to violence, with counselors conducting 2-3 hour calls to help de-escalate situations and provide the support that callers often say they've never heard before. The hotline has prevented dozens of potential acts of violence, including a mass shooting at a group home and another at a hospital, with calls ranging from teenagers planning school attacks to adults threatening mass shootings. https://violencepreventionhotline.org/