"Based on the trauma that so many people in the mental health community have long experienced when they've been in crisis, those assumptions are very understandable," Wesolowski said.įewer than 2% of calls end up involving law enforcement, she said, and most are de-escalated over the phone. When it launched, people responded on social media with warnings that calling 988 brought a heightened risk for police involvement and involuntary treatment at psychiatric hospitals. Vibrant Emotional Health, which operates the hotline, is working to incorporate geo-routing into the system, which would help identify callers' regions - but not exact locations - making it possible to connect them to local counseling groups and other mental health services.īut incorporating geo-routing into the hotline isn't without controversy. Currently, 988 does not use geolocation, meaning call centers don't automatically receive information about callers' locations. Most people think that by calling 988, like 911, emergency services will automatically head their way, the survey found. According to NAMI's survey, only 17% of people who responded said they were "very/somewhat familiar" with the hotline. More than half of Americans have heard of 988, but only a small fraction understand how the hotline operates. This month, HHS announced the addition of Spanish text and chat services to 988. In May, according to SAMHSA, 988 received about 71,000 texts nationwide with a 99% response rate, compared with 8,300 texts in May 2022 with an 82% response rate. In November 2022, the Federal Communications Commission voted to require 988 to be texting-friendly. Wesolowski said one of the biggest surprises with the launch was the frequency of text-message traffic. An advertisement for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline's 988 hotline is seen at the Shaw-Howard University subway station in Washington, D.C. A year ago, that average was one minute and 20 seconds. It now takes an average of 35 seconds for someone reaching out to 988 - by calling or texting - to reach a counselor, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. "Despite a huge increase of demand on the system, it's been holding up, and it's been holding up exceptionally well," Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told KFF Health News. But it appears to be growing into its position. "We also get some calls from people experiencing postpartum depression." Callers are directed to a menu of options to choose which kind of service would best help them, including a veterans' line.Īs it launched, mental health experts worried about the hotline's ability to keep up with demand. "They can be calling if they really just had a bad day," she said. The 988 hotline provides 24/7 support for people in suicidal crisis or other kinds of emotional distress, Breidenstine said. Additionally, the survey found that LGBTQ+ people were twice as likely to be familiar with 988 than people who don't identify as LGBTQ+. "People are remembering it easily," she told KFF Health News.Īccording to a survey by NAMI and IPSOS conducted in June, 63% of Americans had heard of 988, and those ages 18 to 29 were most aware. The huge increase of calls to 988 compared with those to the 1-800 number in just a year is likely linked to the simplicity of the three-digit code, said Adrienne Breidenstine, vice president of policy and communications at Behavioral Health System in Baltimore. The original 1-800 national mental health crisis hotline has operated since 2005. Here's a status check on where things stand: What worked? It's also clear the hotline needs federal and state funding intervention to be sustainable. One year in, it's also clear that the 988 hotline, a network of more than 200 state and local call centers, faces challenges ahead, including public mistrust and confusion.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |