Mother Jones; Jeffrey Wu/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA
imagination (hope?) I’m not the only one who momentarily forgets my sister’s phone number when the clinic calls for my emergency contact information.Hell, sometimes I even forget my number When a grocery store clerk asked me to plug in to claim rewards and fuel points.
Thanks to you, you no longer have to remember your 10- or 11-digit phone number for emergency services. For example, when a kitchen curtain catches fire, when a toddler falls off a trampoline, or when a hit-and-run driver flees the scene. Instead, 98.9% of him in the country can dial his 911 to connect with public safety experts and dispatch fire trucks, ambulances and police officers to emergencies in minutes.
This is thanks to a unique collaboration between the White House, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the commercial communications industry, and Congress in the 1960s and 1970s. (This rare era of bipartisan spurred Medicare, sent humans to the moon, and culminated in the passage of the Endangered Species Act).
But almost 50 years later, there was still no speed dial number for mental health emergency help. About 45,000 people die by suicide each year. Instead, callers in crisis had to remember his 1-800-273-8255, a number formerly called the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
Then, in July 2022, the FCC required all phone and text service providers to enable 988 as a shortcut dialing code for crisis hotlines. Now when people dial 988, text or connect online at 988lifeline.org/chat, they are routed to trained counselors for emergency mental health support and resources. This number also includes specialized care for veterans, those who identify as LGBTQ, or those who may be suffering from a substance abuse disorder. This number is also useful for those who may be concerned about the emotional state of family members or peers.
Of the more than 1.6 million 988 connections launched since July, less than 2% required the involvement of 911 services. This certainly saved the administrative and bureaucratic costs that piled up from first responders, and eased further distress for mentally distressed callers. Paramedics appearing on a person’s doorstep can exacerbate the emotional state that led to this crisis in the first place. For example, their arrival may add to the fear of burdening others or the stress of unexpected medical interventions. The appearance of ambulance crews may indicate expensive ambulance transport for those without insurance. (Prices can easily exceed $900 in this forsaken country.)
Historically, law enforcement officers without proper de-escalation or trauma training have responded to mental health requests by arresting or even harming those in distress. According to 2022 washington post A study found that in at least 178 incidents between 2019 and 2021, law enforcement killed people sent to assist.
988 is by no means a universal remedy for America’s wider mental health crisis. It won’t solve the nation’s acute shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, and despite some efforts to end mental health stigma in insurance payouts, one-third of Americans are out of the office. It doesn’t change the reality that you canceled a therapy session on Out-of-pocket costs, according to his 2022 study by mental health publication Verywell Mind.
One 988 caller, who requested anonymity because he called on behalf of a friend, was frustrated that his call was initially routed to an automated attendant service instead of a real person. She says her hold time was transferred to a real person in less than a minute of her time, but how her first recording felt to someone in the middle of an emotional crisis. She worries about being caught. “I was trying to see it from the perspective of someone who needed immediate help. Either they weren’t thinking clearly or they were on the verge of overcoming it, and they had to listen to the recording,” says the woman.
The counselor she connected with after the first recording “provided some good lessons and was fun to talk to,” she added.
These limitations aside, the 988 has allowed more people to access critical services in less time. Since the three-digit code was introduced, hotline calls and texts have increased by 45% over the summer compared to the same period last year.
Another 988 user, 30-year-old Brittnei Beauchamp from Oklahoma, believes the 988 saved her life. “I was on the floor of my apartment thinking how much easier my life and the lives of all the people I love would be if I wasn’t there,” she says. I’ve never been to a place as dark as the night I reached out, and I will forever be grateful they were there.”
“They asked me about my kids and my sisters,” she says. He emailed me even after I stopped replying to emails to make sure he was.”
This October alone, 401,800 people did what Brittnei did and 988 asked for help. Even when the 988 was in its infancy, nearly three of his five Americans knew about the service, according to an October poll. If there’s a monster lurking near this hero, it’s that her 3-digit code took time to craft.
