Beginning Saturday, July 16, people across the country can call or text 988, the new three-digit number for mental health, substance use and suicidal crises, to connect directly to mental health support during a crisis. This new, shorter dialing code will help people more easily connect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network — over 200 local crisis call centers — for support during a crisis. The availability of 988 is a great step to helping people in crisis and their families – but the work to improve our full crisis response system is only beginning. While the new number is now live, efforts to build the system’s local capacity in our state to help everyone in crisis will continue in the weeks, months and years to come.
Our policymakers must act to build and invest in local resources so that everyone in crisis has someone to talk to (local 24/7 crisis call centers), someone to respond (mobile crisis teams consisting of mental health professionals instead of law enforcement) and somewhere to go (short term crisis stabilization options instead of relying solely emergency departments).
The availability of 988 will help save lives, but there is more work to be done. It took two years of dedicated work leading up to this day. The availability of 988 is a great step to helping people in crisis and their families – but the work to improve our full crisis response system is only beginning.
Efforts to build the system’s local capacity in our State will continue in the weeks, months, and years to come, so that we can help everyone in crisis. Here in Northeast Florida, many behavioral health community providers have been hard at work collaborating to understand and build a behavioral response system that suits Northeast Florida's community using existing behavioral health resources. We are continuing to leverage the great work and services that our community partners are currently providing to provide appropriate responses to behavioral health crisis calls coming in to 988 in Northeast Florida
“Beginning July 16, 2022, 988 will be the new three-digit dialing code connecting people to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where compassionate, accessible care and support are available for anyone experiencing mental health-related distress – whether that is thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis or any other kind of emotional distress. People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.” From SAMHSA 988 FAQs
Questions? Want to learn more? NAMI has more information available about what is and is not changing across the country with the launch of 988.
NAMI's Crisis Response System Vision
NAMI is committed to advancing efforts to reimagine crisis response in our country. We believe that every person in crisis, and their families, should receive a humane response that treats them with dignity and connects them to appropriate and timely care. NAMI is calling for a standard of care for crisis services in every community that includes — 24/7 call centers that answer 988 calls locally, mobile crisis teams and crisis stabilization programs — that end the revolving door of ER visits, arrests, incarceration and homelessness.
Learn more about NAMI's vision here.
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