It has now been one year since the full establishment of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States, and mental health experts said that it has been a great tool to add to the arsenal combating a worsening mental health crisis in this country.
The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act was introduced into the House of Representatives in 2019 by U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Chris Stewart (R-Utah), and went into effect July 16 last year after passing Congress and being signed into law in 2020.
The law designates the three-digit phone number, 988, as the number to call when one is experiencing a mental health crisis or has questions about their own mental health, much in the way 911 is an easy-to-remember phone number to call for emergency services.
In the first year of this service being in use, Moulton said more than 5 million people have called.
“It has exceeded my wildest expectations,” said Moulton.
With such a high usage rate in just its first year, Moulton said that the system is not becoming overwhelmed as one may expect, but is actually improving, with a 75% reduction in wait time, and the new Spanish speaking option being added.
“When you call, you get to speak to someone who knows your needs. We want you to speak to a counselor who can really understand your situation,” said Moulton.
Moulton has spoken previously about suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving four combat tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marines, which he said was a motivating factor for pushing for this new hotline and more mental health support for Americans in general.
“I knew that three-digit number would be transformative,” said Moulton.
The 988 hotline is also more than just a suicide-prevention line, Moulton said.
“If you feel you have a mental health emergency even if you aren’t about to kill yourself, you should call,” said Moulton.
The 988 service is one of three ways that Moulton hopes to tackle the mental health crisis in the country. Another part of his plan is to improve mental health care for veterans and servicemembers who suffer from mental health issues related to their service, like him.
The third piece, he said, is to work to remove some of the stigma that surrounds talking about it, which he said the publicity from the 988 hotline has helped to accomplish.
“The third piece is to normalize mental health by making it as common as an annual physical to get a mental health exam,” said Moulton.
Local mental health experts have had high praise for how the 988 hotline has helped a mental health crisis that was made much worse by the COVID-19 pandemic
Andrew Stephens, the director of clinical operations at the Counseling Center at Making Opportunities Count in Fitchburg, said his staff have heard overall good feedback about the service.
“When we are working with our clients and talking about things like safety concerns and risk factors, this is another resource that we can give them,” said Stephens. “Our staff were very happy with this development.”
Vinfen President and CEO Jean Yang said the hotline has been effective in triaging callers to different institutions that can best help their acute mental health problems. She noted that it is just one of many tools one can use in a mental health crisis.
“The important thing is that 988 is, for the first time, a hotline dedicated to mental health services. People need to know that there is dedicated support for the mental health crisis,” said Yang. “It has introduced more awareness in the community and a sense of openness about mental health. From our point of view that is very, very significant.”
The 988 operators can refer calls to mental health clinics like Vinfen, and Yang said it helps them when it comes to “mobile crisis intervention,” in which mental health professionals can meet a patient experiencing a mental health crisis wherever they may be locally within the hour.
Joanne Groetzinger, clinical director of the Center for Family Development with locations in Lowell, Chelmsford and Needham, said that having a single, easy-to-remember number people can call about their own mental health is helpful for both the clients and clinicians.
Groetzinger said that despite the acute phases of the pandemic being over, the mental health crisis it exacerbated has not slowed down much.
“People are trying to get back into the swing of life across the board with kids, schools, the workforce, no longer isolating at home,” said Groetzinger. “All these stressors are coming back into our lives, and we haven’t really leveled off yet.”
Duncan Speel, the senior director of behavioral health at the Lowell Community Health Center, said that locally and nationally, the mental health needs of Americans are greater than they have ever been.
“Some of the effects of the pandemic are going to be long lasting in adults and children alike,” said Speel. “Because of the pandemic, people have lost touch with certain things and haven’t used certain skills, and have adopted maladaptive behaviors that aren’t helpful.”
Four things often emphasized with mental health patients, Speel said, are sleep, nutrition, exercise and hygiene, all of which was disrupted in different ways by the pandemic.
“Gyms were closed, AA meetings were shut down, I think there is a huge need there, and there always will be,” said Speel. “The good thing about this whole thing is that people are now more willing to talk about mental health issues when before it was kind of taboo.”
