![]() ![]() The 988 hotline is the nation's most comprehensive mental health crisis service and can provide crucial help to those in emotional distress. We know it's not satisfying, but the honest answer is: It depends. Counselors for 988 nationwide will also receive additional training on the alternatives to involving law enforcement and the consequences callers can face when police respond. Starting this fall, Draper said, 988 will update its policies to require supervisors to review all calls that result in the use of emergency services. When emergency services are called, 988 call centers share with 911 operators information they have about the location of the person who contacted the hotline - typically a caller's phone number, with area code, or a chat user's IP address - to help first responders find the individual. Those services can be mobile crisis teams, consisting of people trained in mental health and de-escalation, but in many rural and suburban communities, it is often police.Ĭontrary to some information circulating on social media, 988 cannot geolocate callers, Draper said. With about 2.4 million calls a year, that means emergency services were initiated for roughly 48,000 calls. In previous years, before the 988 number launched, emergency services were dispatched in 2% of the hotline's interactions, the service reported. Only when the caller cannot or will not collaborate on a safety plan and the counselor feels the caller will harm themselves imminently should emergency services be called, according to the hotline's policy.Īt that point, Draper said, "we have the choice of just letting happen or doing whatever we can to keep them safe." Some years, the share has been even higher. That can be dangerous, she said, given that 1 in 5 fatal police shootings in 2019 involved a person with mental illness. ![]() That's why she wrote on Twitter that 988 can and will "send police if they deem it necessary." Like Winston, Krebs wanted people to be fully informed before deciding to call 988. The United Nations has called forced mental health treatment a human rights abuse and asked countries to ban it. Some people also get stuck with large bills for treatment they didn't want.Įmily Krebs, a suicide researcher and assistant professor joining Fordham University this fall, said that involuntary treatment is viewed as a necessary part of suicide prevention in the U.S., but that other countries don't see it that way. Those who were sent involuntarily are more likely to attempt suicide than those who chose to go, and involuntary commitments can make young people less likely to disclose their suicidal feelings in the future. Research shows suicide rates increase drastically in the months after people are discharged from psychiatric hospitals. "I realize there is an urge to rescue people in crisis, but the reality is the services that exist make the problem much, much worse," said Winston, who works in mental health peer support and has started an online support group for people recovering from involuntary treatment. This story was produced in partnership with Kaiser Health News. She said that she did not receive any counseling during the 24 hours she spent there and that the experience was "extremely traumatic." She hoped to speak with a psychiatrist but instead was involuntarily detained in the psychiatric wing of the emergency room. Last summer, Winston was having suicidal thoughts and visited a hospital in New York. Liz Winston, who authored the Instagram post calling 988 "not friendly," said she wanted people to understand all the potential outcomes of calling so they wouldn't be blindsided by the "traumatizing system" that she experienced. We reached out to the creators of some of the social media posts to ask them directly. Why are some people saying not to call 988? So is 988 a critical mental health resource or a cause for concern? We decided to dig into these questions, figure out how 988 works, and explain what you need to know before dialing. Other posts on Instagram and Twitter conveyed similar concerns, saying that the hotline sends law enforcement officers to check on people at risk of suicide without their consent and that people, especially from LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color, may be forced into treatment. Don't call it, don't post it, don't share it, without knowing the risks." The post, which had garnered over a quarter of a million likes as of this week, went on to list the risks as police involvement, involuntary treatment at emergency rooms or psychiatric hospitals, and the emotional and financial toll of those experiences. One Instagram post said, "988 is not friendly. ![]()
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