The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 988 number was launched on July 16 to serve as a universal mental health support tool for callers anytime, anywhere.
resources for crisis assistance, so what happened next was not universal. The level of support 988 callers receive depends on their zip code.
Particularly in rural America, where suicide rates are much higher than those in urban areas, they often have difficulty accessing mental health services. While 988 can connect them to a call center close to home, they may end up being directed to far-flung resources.
The new system should provide people with an alternative to 911, but from rural areas experiencing a mental health crisis may still be handled by law enforcement officers rather than mental health professionals.
More than 150 million people in the United States—mostly from rural or partially rural communities—live in places designated by the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration as shortage areas for mental health professionals. That means their communities don’t have enough mental health providers — usually psychiatrists — to serve the population.
The Biden administration allocated about $105 million to states to help increase the number of new hires at local crisis call centers 988 Systems. But if callers need more than a phone conversation, states have a responsibility to fill any gaps in the continuum of care that callers rely on. States also take on much of the responsibility for staffing and funding their 988 call centers once federal funding dries up.
The Federal Administration of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, which runs the lifeline of the existing 800-273-8255 988 extension, said a state that successfully launched a 988 program would ensure callers have a mental health professional Can talk, have a mobile crisis team to deal with them, and a place to go – such as a short-term residential crisis stabilization facility – to provide diagnosis and treatment. The federal agency also intends to reduce reliance on law enforcement through 988, expand access to mental health care, and reduce pressure on emergency rooms.
These goals may not work equally in all states or communities.
If the call center doesn’t have a dispatchable mobile crisis team, “you don’t have stability, then you basically go from the call center — if they can’t meet your needs — to the emergency room,” Dr. Brian Hepburn, executive director of the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors, said. The group created Type 988 legislation for the states, emphasizing the need for consistent service regardless of the caller’s location.
For the new calling system to be consistent, “you really need the full continuum of care,” Hepburn said. “The expectation is not that it’s available now. The expectation is,” he said, “that your state will get you there eventually.”
But with 988 kicked in, most states have yet to pass legislation to Filling gaps in mental health care.
In South Dakota, which has the eighth highest suicide rate, health officials say tackling the mental health crisis in rural counties will be a challenge. As such, they plan to include volunteer emergency medical services and fire department personnel in their emergency response to 988 calls on the ground. According to the South Dakota Department of Social Services, more than two-thirds of South Dakotas live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.
There is only one professional mobile crisis team in the state that can respond in person to emergencies Cabinet Secretary Laurie Gill. The Mobile Response team is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s largest city, serving the southeastern corner of the state.
“Some of our communities have virtual mobile crisis teams,” said Janet Kittams, CEO of the Helpline Center, a South Dakota nonprofit that will answer the State’s 988 number. “Some of our communities have co-responder models. Some of our communities are going to be responding directly to law enforcement. So things do vary quite a bit across the state.”
Sioux Falls too Home to one of the state’s two short-term crisis facilities. The other is more than 300 miles away in Rapid City. South Dakota also has 11 community mental health centers that assess patients and provide outpatient treatment. The centers also use law enforcement agencies to respond to mental health crises.
Counselors at the Helpline Center can direct 988 callers to one of these centers.
“Sometimes, yes, you have to drive hours to get to a community mental health center, but sometimes you don’t,” Kittams said. “In general, people living in rural South Dakota are very aware that they may have to drive to find resources because that may be the case in other areas of their lives, not just for mental health care, but for what they need. Other types of care or resources.”
The helpline center reported that its operators de-escalated 80 percent of calls without deploying a crisis team. But Vibrant Emotional Health, the nonprofit that co-manages the nation’s lifeline, expects South Dakota’s voice to increase fivefold in the first year that 988 is in place. Any surge in calls could increase demand for crisis teams.
Vibrant says 988 will add at least 2 million people to the nation in its first year. Half of that is expected to happen by moving mental health-related calls from 911 and other crisis centers to 988.
Just next door to South Dakota, Iowa enters the 988 era with a stronger mobile crisis response system — “on paper at least,” National Mental Illness Coalition Iowa said chapter executive director Peggy Huppert. There are mobile crisis providers in 87 of the state’s 99 counties, but most Iowans live in areas where there is a shortage of mental health professionals.
The remaining 12 counties — all rural — rely on law enforcement and emergency medical technicians, Huppert said. ,” she said. “People who are in a behavioral health crisis, who can be psychotic, sometimes they hear voices, they hallucinate, and they’re in an altered state. They do not easily obey orders. This is where things often happen. “
Officials at 988 call centers in nine counties in east-central Iowa, operated by CommUnity Crisis Services, said their mobile crisis teams would be made up of consultants only, but if the team felt that Security is necessary, law enforcement agencies may be called in.
Community Crisis Services has three mobile crisis service providers who arrive in unmarked vehicles.
Korbakes, chief operating officer of Adrianne CommUnity, said mobile crisis groups are a good option in rural communities where seeking mental health treatment can be stigmatized. With 988, she said, “you can call in the privacy of your own home. Call, text or chat – no one needs to know you’re accessing a service. “
To prepare for these connections, CommUnity’s headcount has nearly doubled in the past seven months — from 88 employees in January to 175 in July Name.
Despite 988 preparations in Iowa and South Dakota, neither state legislature has long funded the system term. In the 2020 National Suicide Hotline In the Designated Act, Congress authorized states to cover 988 charges by adding surcharges to cell phone service, but most did not.
Only 13 states enacted 988 legislation, according to the National There are different applications and prescriptions in the continuum of care, according to the Mental Illness Alliance.
In Iowa, Huppert said, “There’s a lot of wait-and-see approach. ”
