CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

‘A monumental step forward.’ New emergency number, 988, will be 911 for mental health.

Lexington Herald-Leader - 6/3/2022

America is in a mental health crisis.

May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, was full of a steady stream of warnings about the mental health of teenagers, of athletes, of nurses, of everyone suffering the fallouts of COVID, inflation, climate change and a sense of general hopelessness.

In Kentucky, in particular, we got a front page view of the horrors of untreated mental illness, from the deaths of two young children at the hands of their mother in Lexington or the home invasion and murder by a young man whose mother had tried and failed to get treatment for him.

Mental health services are a vast and complicated maze to access, and suffer from the same problems as other public services— underfunding and understaffing. Where do you even begin if you have a loved one who is threatening suicide or just acting erratic? But starting on July 17, there is one small thing that advocates hope will make a big difference: a phone number.

Three digits — 988 — is supposed to become the national 911, a universal help line to access mental health services wherever you live and whatever you need.

“I think this is a monumental step forward in creating a single number that folks can universally access,” said Allen Brenzel, Chief Medical Officer for the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities. “If we think the way it used to be and what 911 has done, we’re in the beginning of that, over time the ability for us to create awareness around a single number.

The national suicide hotline has been in place for a long time, but it’s long and complicated. Converting it to an easy to remember three-digit number could help access for children or someone in a substance abuse or other crisis.

Congress appropriated funds to create the 988 call line in 2020 in response to the overwhelming problem of suicide and other mental health problems. In 2020, the U.S. had one death by suicide every 11 minutes. Suicide is a leading cause of death for people aged 10-34 years, according to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA awarded Kentucky$9.5 million in grants, and the General Assembly has $2.8 million more for implementation.

That includes 13 statewide call centers within the state’s community mental health centers, where trained professionals will be able to put people in touch with the experts they needs. About 80 percent of calls are resolved with a trained person, Brenzel said, but the operators will know the entry points for people to enter the mental health system. The caller might be able to talk the person out of crisis and make a referral to mental health services later, or they might connect them with a mobile crisis team, or they might send emergency medical services.

The problems are real, Brenzel said.

“It’s overwhelming in terms of increased demand we’re seeing, there’s a significant increase in number of children accessing services, and nationally up to 40 percent of children are experiencing anxiety,” he said. “Our emergency departments are seeing more adults and kids, so we just have to continue to maximize the current workforce we have.”

But building a call center isn’t enough, Brenzel said. Mental health must be treated with a public health approach and “take its rightful place in the overall healthcare system.” You have to make sure private insurers cover proper treatment. And you have to build up a stressed, burned out and understaffed workforce.

Mental health advocates are cautiously optimistic.

“Anything we can do to improve access is wonderful so it’s a really good move to getting people the help they need,” said Kelly Gunning, advocacy director for the Lexington affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “But that help has to exist in the community, and with 988 we have to be prepared for a huge influx of calls.”

Brenzel calls 988 a 15 year dream. “Your child is showing signs of anger and depression, this is where you call. Someone answers to help hand you off to direct help. This way, people will know where the front door of the system is.”

For more information on the 988 system, go to https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988. Kentucky’s 988 hotline will be fully operational in July but if you need suicide or mental health-related crisis support, or are worried about someone else, please call or text 1-800-273-8255 or visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline ’s chat to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

©2022 Lexington Herald-Leader. Visit kentucky.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.