Lawmakers, mental health experts, and advocates gathered recently to celebrate the milestone anniversary of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Hosted at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the stakeholders discussed the work their organizations have done since the launch of 988 and what still needs to be done to ensure that every American can access the help they need.
988, formally a 10-digit number, provides free and confidential support with trained crisis counselors available 24 hours a day. Over the course of a year, 988 has received more than 4 million contacts and the Department of Health and Human Services has recently announced more than $200 million in new funding to build local capacity for 988 and related crisis services.
Xavier Becerra, secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, said President Biden, has invested in 988 to ensure that people had early access to the new three-digit number.
Xavier Becerra
“That makes it possible for Americans who are hurting, who are about to go the wrong way and that fork in the road to say, I'm going to call 988,” said Becerra at the event that was convened by the media organization, The Hill. “Like 911 for emergencies, 988 for mental health crisis is now there for you.”
In March of 2022, through the American Rescue Plan, the Biden Administration provided $180 million to support local capacity to answer crisis calls and establish more community-based mobile crisis response and crisis stabilizing facilities to minimize unnecessary emergency department visits.
The Administration continued to build on that support in the President’s FY23 budget investing an additional nearly $700 million for staff and local crisis centers.
