Written by Sharon Lipford, LCSW-C
Senior Advisor, Behavioral Health Services:
A new 3-digit number rolling out in mid-July will help people access mental health help quickly and easily. Are you and your stakeholders set? Get the background and facts on this historic advancement in crisis access.
Spread the word. Educate stakeholders, clients, patients, family, neighbors and friends. Receiving mental health and substance abuse help during a crisis soon will be as easy as dialing 988. Beginning July 16, 2022, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) will transition to an easy-to-remember, 3-digit number — 988.
Are you ready?
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), this represents an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen and expand the existing network of more than 200 locally operated and funded crisis call centers across the country.
Why this is happening...
Nearly daily, media coverage has been reporting on a behavioral health care crisis across the country. Children are in crisis. Adults are in crisis. The behavioral health system of care is in crisis. The March Washington Post Magazine article, “Children’s Mental Health Crisis Politicization,” noted that “the pandemic multiplied the behavioral health crisis exponentially.” To be clear, Covid-19 did not cause a crisis, but it exposed and magnified the weaknesses in the treatment system. Challenges, such as the lack of access to care, shortages in the behavioral health workforce, and increasing pressures on people of all ages have been brewing for decades.These system weaknesses are manifesting in the worst possible ways. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide was the second leading cause of death for ages 10-14 and 25-34. In 2020, one person dies by suicide every 11 minutes in the United States.
SAMHSA’s 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health data shows
- 9% of adults 18 or older had serious thoughts of suicide;
- 3% made a suicide plan; and
- 5% attempted suicide in the past year.
Among adolescents 12 to 17, 12% had serious thoughts of suicide, 5.3% made a suicide plan, and 2.5% attempted suicide in the past year.
Washington took action.
Through the American Rescue Act, SAMHSA, awarded over $105 million in grant funding to support the transition of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from the current 10-digit number to a 988 three-digit dialing code. While this won’t solve the systemic problems, it is a good first step in making it easier for people in crisis to access help.
Strengthening the nation’s behavioral health crisis system infrastructure is a core priority of President Biden’s national Mental Health Strategy. Developing and launching 988 is a critical step to realizing this objective. “Providing states and territories with the support to prevent suicide by assisting people in crisis is critical to our nation’s health,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in an April news release.
How can you help?
Know the stats. When a person in crisis contacts a hotline (via telephone, chat, text), the situation is resolved more than 80% of the time. Immediate support is given, mobile crisis teams are dispatched, referrals to walk-in centers are facilitated, and resources are provided. A life can be saved.
Have the materials. SAMHSA’s 988 Partner Toolkit offers fact sheets, logos, scripts for public service announcements (PSAs) and will continue adding more. These documents will help all stakeholders present a uniformed look, feel, and voice to the 988 activation.
Talk to a Renaye James behavioral healthcare advisor
Do you want to learn more about our behavioral health services at Renaye James Healthcare Advisors, contact us today at contactus@renayejames.com or call 410-630-6959.
Additional Resources:
Health and Human Services. HHS Announces Critical Investments to Implement Upcoming 988 Dialing Code for National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Washington, DC: HHS Press Office; December 20, 2021.
SAMHSA: 2020 National Survey of Drug Use and health (NSDUH). https://www.samhsa.gov/data/release/2020-national-survey-drug-use-and-health-nsduh-releases, Retrieved May 13, 2022.
SAMHSA Press Announcement. https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/20220419/hhs-awards-105-million-states-territories-strengthen-crisis-call-center-services), April 19,2022.
Washington Post Magazine. Children’s Mental Health Crisis Politicization. https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/21/childrens-mental-health-crisis-politicization. March 21, 2022.