Recently, the US government created a new suicide hotline: 988. The hotline has over $400,000,00 in government funding and its purpose is to meet the rising wave of mental health issues across the US. But will it be enough? Or will the call centers be too short staffed and fail to help those in need?
Many people who called the previous lifeline in recent months were disconnected before they got help, with over 1 million calls being abandoned. Earlier analyses were found to have similar problems, and with the transition to a three – digit number, the number of abandoned calls is expected to increase.
The lifeline’s texting and chat services have had similar problems, receiving around 500,000 total contacts during the first half of this year but only answering around 42% of them. However, there has been steady improvement, with the response rate climbing to 72%, and the response time going from 16 minutes on average to just 3 minutes.
There were no significant improvements for the call service, but their goal is to reach a 95% response rate in 20 seconds or less. While all these changes and improvements are good, the main goal of the whole program is to have two coordinated teams: one to receive the calls/messages, and a mobile ground team to go and help the people in need as well as having short-term mental health centers nearby.
Funding for the program still hangs in the balance, however. The person who created the program, former president Donald J. Trump, mostly left the funding to states.
So, this new 988 hotline has lots of potential. It could be very helpful in saving lives in the future and prevent suicide attempts, but whether it has enough funding or is well enough organized remains to be seen.
Many people who called the previous lifeline in recent months were disconnected before they got help, with over 1 million calls being abandoned. Earlier analyses were found to have similar problems, and with the transition to a three – digit number, the number of abandoned calls is expected to increase.
The lifeline’s texting and chat services have had similar problems, receiving around 500,000 total contacts during the first half of this year but only answering around 42% of them. However, there has been steady improvement, with the response rate climbing to 72%, and the response time going from 16 minutes on average to just 3 minutes.
There were no significant improvements for the call service, but their goal is to reach a 95% response rate in 20 seconds or less. While all these changes and improvements are good, the main goal of the whole program is to have two coordinated teams: one to receive the calls/messages, and a mobile ground team to go and help the people in need as well as having short-term mental health centers nearby.
Funding for the program still hangs in the balance, however. The person who created the program, former president Donald J. Trump, mostly left the funding to states.
So, this new 988 hotline has lots of potential. It could be very helpful in saving lives in the future and prevent suicide attempts, but whether it has enough funding or is well enough organized remains to be seen.
