988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Number Effective Saturday

ACROSS AMERICA — The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline telephone number will be simplified to 988 on Saturday — a change residents of nearly three dozen states began preparing for last year when they had to include the area code in local cellphone calls.

The change was required because the new three-digit suicide prevention hotline number is also a prefix (the second set of three digits on a phone number) in 82 area codes in 35 states and Guam.

Until the switch on Saturday, July 16, residents in crisis should continue to dial or text 800-273-8255. Online chat services are also available. Service members, veterans and their families can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by pressing 1, or by either texting 838255, or online.

All those suicide prevention services will remain operational after the transition, too, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Some mental health experts are worried states haven’t adequately prepared for the switch to 988.

Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, an assistant secretary at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said at a news conference Thursday she has been working with states on funding to determine their readiness for the 988 switch, USA Today reported.

Among the worries: Crisis centers may not be able to adequately staff crisis response centers, and money to implement the 988 hotline is tight. A report from the agency Delphin-Rittmon heads projects that calls to the suicide hotline will increase by more than half in 2022 with 7.6 million calls, texts or online chats, compared to 3.3 million in 2020.

The Biden administration set aside $432 million for the initial investment in the transition, another $177 million to expand the lifeline infrastructure and almost $105 million in direct grants to states and territories, Delphin-Rittmon said.

Fewer than half of state legislatures have approved bills to fund 988 implementation, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.

The 988 rollout comes amid escalating suicides and suicide attempts, especially among adolescents and teen girls ages 12-17, during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research.

Mental health-related emergency room visits by people in that age group increased 31 percent in 2020, compared to 2019, and the trend appears to be continuing, according to CDC research. It showed:

From Feb. 21-March 20, 2021, ER visits for attempted suicides among girls ages 12-17 were 50.6 percent higher than during the same period in 2019. Over the same period, the increase in suicide attempts for boys of the same ages was 3.7 percent.

The trend is alarming because overall, suicide rates are significantly higher among males than females, according to CDC data cited in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report on the 988 conversion.

Wyoming led the nation in deaths by suicide in 2020, with a rate of 30.5 suicides per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC. The four other states with the highest suicide rates were Alaska (27.5 suicides per 100,000), Montana (26.1 per 100,000), New Mexico (24.2 suicides per 100,000) and Idaho (23.5 suicides per 100,000).