The authors reported a study which examined & compared the demographics of suicidal callers to a crisis centre & completed suicides in an effort to help telephone counsellors identify high-risk callers & prevent suicide. Archival records of 664 callers to a crisis centre in Kentucky & coroner’s reports of 77 suicide cases were compared for the year 1995. Results indicated significant differences between the two groups in relation to age, ethnicity, marital status, & plan & method of death.