The 988 suicide hotline launched nationwide this past weekend. Here’s what you need to know.

On July 16, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline transitioned from its previous ten-digit phone number to the 988 dialing code.

The three-digit dialing code was created to better connect people with mental health-related distress with emergency care and support.

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The goals for the new hotline are to:

• Provide immediate, confidential counseling to someone in distress.
• De-escalate suicidal or distressed thoughts.
• Connect people with local resources, when appropriate.

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The lifeline is connected to a network of over 200 independent crisis centers across the U.S. and territories run by crisis counselors, who are supervised every shift by a licensed mental health professional.

These counselors are trained to deal with a variety of emotional distress situation, including but not limited to thoughts of suicide, mental health and substance use crises. They adhere to evidence based protocols to de-escalate feelings of crisis. There are also national back-up centers, Spanish language centers and centers answering chats and texts.

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In rare but critical circumstances, which are less than 2% of the time, counselors will determine via their protocols that someone is at imminent risk of harming themselves or someone else. In these situations, the counselor will contact 911 to dispatch emergency services.

Although 988 cannot be directly transferred to 911, crisis counselors are trained to best relay information to the 911 dispatcher. It may not be perfect, but community members and crisis counselors alike have said this is a step in the right direction.

For more information, visit the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration’s website at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988.

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