What mental health experts are saying about the 988 crisis line and its future
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- 27 Feb 2023
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The new national mental health crisis hotline 988 launched last summer. Mental health experts discuss how it's working and what lies ahead.
On June 5, 2017, Zachary Bear Heels died in police custody in Omaha, Nebraska.
Bear Heels, 29, had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was arrested, tased 12 times, and punched in the head after allegedly refusing to leave a gas station during a delusional episode.
Bear Heels died of excited delirium, physical struggle, physical restraint and use of a stun gun, according to officials cited by the Associated Press. There was no video recording of the police response.
If the national mental health crisis hotline, 988, had been up and running when Bear Heels was in crisis, said psychologist Anitra Warrior, the outcome may have been very different.
“There was no interaction, no real opportunity of visiting with this individual,” said Warrior, who is based in Nebraska with Morningstar Counseling, which specializes in serving the Native American community. “We’ve had such horrible interactions with police in general for our population specifically that having more things like this happen creates even more of a barrier for our people.”
Warrior and half a dozen other experts on the effort to decriminalize mental illness spoke to student reporters from Youthcast Media Group (YMG) at the 3rd Annual Sozosei Foundation Summit in December about incidents like the death of Bear Heels and the national and local rollout of the 988 crisis line. Their responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
988 launched nationally in July. How do you think the rollout has gone so far?
"We're slowly getting more people aware of what 988 is and then what it's not. For our community, we're trying our best to let people know that yes, it is ... a true one-for-one replacement for the Suicide Lifeline and it will become even more of a true mobile crisis response for those in mental health emergencies." – Tansy McNulty, CEO of 1M4 (1 Million Madly Motivated Moms)
"Some positives have been that 988 has brought about more visibility of mental and behavioral disorders and helped destigmatize them. However, getting more awareness of 988 and optimizing its widespread use is a long process that will take time." – Jonah Cunningham, CEO of National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities/National Association for Rural Mental Health
What about 988 is working best and why?
988 "is easily memorizable and has quick responses. It has cut down on wait times and more people are being served as soon as they reach out. It also helps that the responses are culturally competent and so the circumstances of the people being called are understood, this is in no doubt a result of the community organization partnerships 988 has fostered." – McNulty
"988 has had a lot of success in the early adopter states like Utah. It is hard to compare them to other states because the goals of the states are different and so success cannot be measured by just one metric." – Cunningham Read More…
