A national hotline launched to prevent suicide and help those in mental health crisis has received almost 5 million calls and texts in the first year of operation — and 39,000 of those contacts were made by New Mexicans seeking support.
A state behavioral health official told lawmakers it is estimated “988 has saved the lives of 4,732 New Mexicans who may have been experiencing suicidal ideation.”
Nick Boukas, director of the Behavioral Health Services Division of the state Human Services Department, told members of the interim Legislative Health & Human Services Committee last week the line is staffed by clinicians and behavioral health experts who provide crisis intervention support by phone, text and chat 24 hours every day.
The national hotline, initiated in July 2022, shortened the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to 988 in an effort to give people in crisis quicker access to mental health services.
The U.S. had one suicide death every 11 minutes in 2021, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and New Mexico’s suicide rate is often higher than the national average.
A National Council for Mental Wellbeing report on 988 said 98% of suicide and crisis lifeline contacts are “resolved at that first point of contact, with no need for any additional services to be dispatched.”
It also said most callers feel significantly “less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed and more hopeful after speaking to a lifeline crisis counselor.”
On the national level, 988 generated 5 million contacts in its first year of operation, according to a recent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report. That was 2 million more than the year before the start of the $1 billion initiative, the report says.
Of the 5 million contacts, about 665,000 were texts.
In a phone interview, Boukas said the high number of calls indicates “not only are people still experiencing issues after the pandemic but in all aspects of their lives.”
He said it is encouraging for behavioral health providers to see so many people “looking for help and not trying to hide it because of a stigma.”
The update on the 988 hotline comes as the state plans to roll out two pilot programs offering 24/7 mobile crisis services to residents in Roosevelt and Sandoval counties. The goal, Boukas told lawmakers, is to free up law enforcement officers who often respond to behavioral health crisis calls by having social workers respond instead.
If the pilot program expands down the line, which Boukas said he would like to see happen, it could get worked into the 988 hotline system.
“So when 988 gets a call, they will refer it to the appropriate county resource,” he said, adding the state will monitor the progress of the two pilot programs and then approach state lawmakers about funding similar programs down the line.
Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, D-Albuquerque, who serves as vice chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee, said she is glad “so many New Mexicans have used it [988] to hopefully prevent suicides and other behavioral issues.”
She said she would like to see more information about how 988 is working in tandem with 911 and whether there is any interconnectivity.
