John Bateson was executive director of a nationally certified crisis intervention and suicide prevention center for 16 years. He also was executive director of three university counseling centers and deputy director of a multicounty social service agency. He served on the steering committee of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) and was appointed to a blue-ribbon committee that created the ""California Strategic Plan on Suicide Prevention."" He is the author of The Education of a Coroner, The Last and Greatest Battle, The Final Leap, and Building Hope.