988: The New Suicide Hotline and Crisis Response System
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Disability Rights Florida Blog
May is the month of Mental Health Awareness, a time to advocate for mental health wellness, community services, and equitable access to care for those with mental illness. This May is especially important due to the significant upcoming changes on the mental health horizon with the coming of the national 988 Suicide Hotline and crisis response system.
What is 988?
-
9-8-8 is the new nationwide phone number for national suicide prevention and a behavioral health and veterans’ crisis hotline system.
-
On October 17, 2020, President Trump signed S.2661, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, which created 9-8-8.
- By July 16, 2022, 9-8-8 will be activated across the U.S.
- At that time, all Florida residents who use 9-8-8 for assistance with suicide prevention and behavioral health emergencies will be directed by telecommunications companies to Florida’s 12 National Suicide Prevention Lifelines (NSPL).
Why is this important?
Currently, most behavioral health emergency calls are routed through 9-1-1, which typically means the involvement of law enforcement services who may not be trained in response to persons with developmental disabilities or mental illness. Though the implementation of the nationwide crisis number attempts to solve the need for an alternate response system, the system would then be ineffective without the support of community mental health services to ensure the individuals in need have the support necessary during the crisis and the resources for further assistance afterward stabilization. Therefore, with the creation of a national 9-8-8, states have the renewed opportunity to create alternate behavioral health emergency response systems and expand access to community mental health services.
The Florida Mental Health Advocacy Coalition (FLMHAC) further defines this ideal as the "three pillars of an effective crisis response system"
Image: 3 columns with information. First one has a graphic of 2 people with headsets -t ext reads 24/7 crisis call hubs. The second column has a graphic of 2 people in a car driving - text reads mobile crisis outreach teams. The third and final column has a graphic of a building with text that reads crisis receiving facilities
- Someone to talk to
- Call centers with well-trained responders thoroughly versed in providing trauma-informed listening and response in mental health, substance abuse, or suicidal crises calls.
- Someone to respond
- Should callers feel that an on-site crisis response is needed, mobile response teams (MRTs) staffed by behavior health-trained professionals and peers are available to de-escalate situations, arrange transportation to crisis stabilization, and connect people to services.
- A place to go
- Individuals in crisis can receive short-term stabilization services and be assessed at Centralized Receiving Facilities or other crisis stabilization centers.
Location of Florida's 12 National Suicide Prevention Lifelines
.png)
Image: Graphic of the state of florida with location pins highlighting the location of National Suicicde Prevention Lifelines across the state in Orlando, Tallahassee, Naples, Rockledge, Clearwater, Gainesville, Pinellas Park, Tampa, North Miami, Latana, Jacksonville, and Oakland Park
Locations listed on map:
- 2-1-1 Heart of Florida United Way (Orlando)
- 2-1-1 Big Bend (Tallahassee)
- David Lawrence Mental HealthCenter, Inc. (Naples)
- 211 Brevard (Rockledge)
- 2-1-1 Tampa Bay Cares (Clearwater)
- Alachua County Crisis Center (Gainesville)
- Personal Encrichment through Mental Health Services (Pinellas Park)
- Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, Inc. (Tampa)
- Jewish Community Services of South Florida (North Miami)
- 211 Palm Beach/Treasure Coast, Inc. (Latana)
- United Way 211 (Jacksonville)
- 2-1-1 Broward (Oakland Park)
To focus specifically on Florida, the creation of 988 will have callers routed to one of Florida's 12 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) Centers. Currently, those centers operate with different funding levels, staffing capacities, and operational protocols. With the enactment of 988, call volumes for these centers is expected to increase from 300% to as much as 860% which would overload these already extremely taxed response systems.
So with all this knowledge of the issues, what can be done to help ensure these changes to the landscape of mental health services and crisis response?
In short, one of the biggest barriers to the improvement or creation of most of these services is funding. Currently, there is federal legislation known as the 988 Implementation Act meant to provide federal funding and guidance for states to implement a 988 and crisis response infrastructure that relies on trained mental health specialists instead of armed law enforcement.
In Florida, the most recent attempt to provide funding within the state for these services was SB 478 which unfortunately did not pass the Health and Human services appropriation subcommittee during this year's legislative session. The state's next legislative session will no doubt see the introduction of new fund-appropriating bills for NSPL centers improvement and expansions, as well as community mental health service. State senators and mental health advocates can use the public's help to spread information on this need and rev up support for legislation to affect these changes. Your support may include discussing these needs within your communities and reaching out to organized mental health advocate groups for opportunities to advocate yourself.
Here’s a few resources to get you started advocating!
- FLMHAC 988 Information Flyer in English and Spanish
- A podcast on the establishment of 988 and the need for additional crisis response resources
- An article posted on NAMI about the issues facing the nationwide rollout of 988
- A 988 Partner Toolkit provided by SAMHSA with resources and materials to assist other interested parties in advocating
- An implementation packet provided by federal senators supporting the bill for funding
Sherona Bryant is an Advocate Investigator on the Systems Reform Team and assists clients in eligibility for state support services as well as working to identify systemic issues facing Florida’s disability population and advocating for change. Sherona joined DRF in 2019 and obtained a B.S. in History and Pre-Law from Florida A&M University.
Leave Us Your Comments
Please do not leave requests for assistance in the comments. Blog comments are not monitored by intake staff and your request may not be seen. Visit our Online Intake Page to request our services.
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Comments