The long-awaited three-digit crisis hotline known as 988 rolls out nationally Saturday, a win for mental health advocates who see the simplified number as the first step on a path toward building out crisis care.
But how ready states and advocates feel about the next steps to improve mental health is more complicated.
The implementation of 988, which will direct callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, is the first of the federal government’s three-step process to building better mental health care. The steps include the crisis call center number, which will take calls and dispatch support; mobile crisis response, which will send teams to the crisis; and crisis stabilization services, or facilities to receive and serve those undergoing a crisis on a short-term basis.
