A Year of 988: The First Step in a Long Journey — Psychiatric Times
A year ago, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline switched to its new 3-digit number, 988. What's happened since then?
By Leah Kuntz
A year ago, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline switched to its new 3-digit number, 988. Since its launch, the Lifeline has received a startling number of contacts: over 5 million, including more than 1.43 million calls, 416,000 chats, and 281,000 texts. But is it effective in saving lives?
“The transition to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has sparked a transformational moment in behavioral health care in this country. For the first time in my 26-year career history, every state and territory is talking about improving their behavioral health crisis systems,” said Monica Johnson, MA, director of the 988 & Behavioral Health Crisis Coordinating Office at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “While we know that there is still much work to do to achieve a robust response system for mental health and substance use crisis care across the country, we have accomplished a lot in the past year. The data show that, since the transition to 988, more people are reaching out for help, and they are getting a response much faster than ever before to get the help that they need in a time of crisis.”