Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Advocates to prevent suicide say more has to be done. And they are backing a package of legislation to, among other things, increase awareness of the national suicide hotline, 9-8-8.

“If people don’t know about these options, they will not pick up the phone,” State Rep. Lindsey LaPointe (D-Chicago) said at a statehouse news conference. “We talk about building up our system, but the reality is most of the people I represent do not know about these options. Do not know about these options.“

LaPointe is carrying a bill requiring insurance companies to pay to expand and publicize the 9-8-8 network.

State Sen. Christopher Belt (D-Swansea) wants suicide prevention as part of the Illinois elementary school curriculum and services for people re-entering society from incarceration.

Speaking of prison, the news conference included a board member of the American Federation for Suicide Prevention, Tammy Bush Hamilton, who worked with vulnerable prison inmates — and also is the mother of someone who died by suicide. Hamilton is trying to keep her daughter alive through an organization called “Tam’s Beautiful Butterflies.”