PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Care for a mental health crisis could become dramatically easier to get, beginning Saturday, with the nationwide launch of a three-digit phone number — 988 — to call for help. Federal officials announced the launch in West Philadelphia on Friday.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is replacing the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line. The aim of 988 is to improve access to crisis services to meet a growing suicide and mental health crisis in the country, connecting callers to a network of trained counselors who can assist them and connect them to services or other resources.
The 988 system has been years in the planning. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra emphasized how much easier it will be to remember the new number to call in a crisis and said he hopes 988 will become as familiar as 911.
“When you hear 911, you think ‘emergency and rescue.’ Starting tomorrow, when you hear 988, think ‘crisis and rescue.’”
Becerra led a delegation of federal officials, including the chair of the FCC, which spent a year and a half clearing the number nationwide, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, who explained that 988 will link directly to the veterans crisis line.
McDonough said he expects calls to the veterans line — which is already receiving about 2,000 a day — to more than double, given the ease of the new number.
“We are expanding our workforce by more than 900 people so we can manage the anticipated increase in calls,” he said.
Philadelphia officials say they, too, are hiring up. The city’s hotline averaged 1,100 calls a week in 2021, and officials say it has been climbing this year. But along with improving access, officials say the number also provides an alternative to 911 for people in crisis.
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John White, president of The Consortium, the mobile mental health crisis care provider that responds to calls in West Philadelphia, and which hosted the announcement, said 988 could be a game-changer.
“988 could change the whole dynamic between law enforcement and behavioral health communities,” White said.
He lamented that the number was not available two years ago, when Walter Wallace was shot after relatives and neighbors called 911 as he was having a mental health crisis.
“Our greatest disappointment was that we didn’t get an opportunity to help him. 988 would have allowed us to do that. 988 would have led directly to a behavioral health provider who’d have been there to prevent this tragedy.”
White says the number could be the key to replacing a law enforcement response when behavioral health care is needed.
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Attic Youth Center interim Executive Director Jasper Liem said the new easy-to-remember number will be a way to get immediate help in a crisis, but he has some concerns about the national lifeline, particularly when it comes to transgender and gender-diverse youth.
His Center City nonprofit provides counseling and other services to LGBTQ youth.
“I think like any national hotline, it could be hit-or-miss based on who you get on the line, and how confident or well-versed they may be in somebody’s particular cultural background and needs,” Liem said.
“Unfortunately, LGBTQ youth are up to four times more likely to contemplate suicide.”
He said he would like to see an increase in partnerships with LGBTQ-specific organizations.
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The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline partners with the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services and 179 other local organizations around the country to offer services. DBHIDS can route people in need to local groups like Attic Youth Center.
The current National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, 1-800-273-8255, will continue to function after 988 activates. The new number will be available by text or chat as well.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) says the transition to the 988 lifeline offers an “unprecedented opportunity to strengthen and transform crisis care in our country.”
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“In 2021, the lifeline received 3.6 million calls, chats and texts, which includes over 540,000 calls routed to the Veterans Crisis Line," said Jamie Cohen, the AFSP area director for Greater Philadelphia.
“That number is expected to double within the first full year of the 988 transition.“
The Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $100 million to states and territories to strengthen crisis call center services in advance of the 988 transition.
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