Today, the 911 system is taken for granted. Anyone, virtually anywhere in the United States, should be able to dial three digits during a physical health emergency and expect a fast, local response — sometimes making the difference between life and death.
On July 16, “988” will become the equivalent hotline for mental health emergencies. The launch will occur two years after Congress passed the National Suicide Designation Act of 2020, leaving the particulars of implementation to individual states. But the change will be a missed opportunity if states can’t clear significant hurdles: funding the expanded crisis response system, and making sure people know it’s available.
There’s a clear need for a hotline tailored to mental health emergencies. Someone dies from suicide in the United States about every 11 minutes, a rate that has increased almost 30% since 2000, according to government statistics. (Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults, according to 2019 data.) Another roughly 10 million Americans show up at emergency departments each year with acute mental health needs.
