Even though emergency response systems for medical, public safety, and fire crises are well-coordinated and integrated in nearly every community through 911, the same isn’t true for behavioral health or mental-health crises. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is the closest thing the U.S. has to a mental-health hotline, yet it operates only about 200 unevenly distributed, underfunded call centers.
Until now. On July 16, the federal government will phase out the Lifeline’s clunky number —800-273-8255—and launch a new three-digit number, 988, for anyone in a mental-health crisis. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline will dramatically expand the capacity of call centers to answer calls, with the goal of instantaneously connecting people suffering mental-health crises to mental-health professionals—instead of police officers or EMTs, not all of whom are not trained to or comfortable de-escalating emergency situations involving mental illness.
Read more at TIME Magazine.