Mental health advocates in Kentucky applaud new national 988 suicide hotline

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- With suicides on the rise, the U.S. government wants to make the national crisis hotline easier to reach.

The nation is about one month away from launching a new hotline for mental health emergencies.

Once implemented, people will just need to dial 988 to seek help. Currently, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-TALK (8255). Callers are routed to one of 163 crisis centers, where counselors answered 2.2 million calls last year.

That is bittersweet news for people who have lost loved ones to suicide.

"The other day I was thinking about it, you know, I wonder did she, did she think about what it was going to do to those that she left behind?" questioned Richard Farmer.

Several years ago, Farmer's family suffered a very painful and unexpected loss.

"I think she probably did because she left a note and she said that she was terribly sorry for any pain she was going to cause," he said.

In October of 2011, 36-year-old Amy Farmer died by suicide.

"Her mother actually discovered her body," said Farmer.

After a bad day at work, Amy did reach out for help — but instead of calling the suicide prevention hotline, she phoned a friend.

"And the friend asked her to go out and you know, let's go get something to eat, whatever. She just said no, I think I'd just rather stay home tonight," said Farmer. "And you know, that was the last person she ever talked to."

A law passed last year that required the Federal Communications Commission to study assigning a three-digit number for suicide prevention, like 911 for emergencies or 311 for city services.

The government’s action comes as suicide rates have increased across the U.S. over the past two decades, and dramatically so — by more than 30% — in half of U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 45,000 deaths in 2016.

Next month, the new hotline is scheduled to launch and provide a critical lifeline to people in crisis.

"It's a great place to just pick up the phone and get resources," said Stewart Bridgman, MBA, ATR, LPAT.

Similar to 911, in July, 988 will become the new three-digit dialing code that will connect people to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

"If you have a heart attack, you know exactly what to do, you know, to call 911 and go to the to the ER," Bridgman said. "If you have a mental health problem, you don't know do I need a therapist? Do I need to take medication? Do I need to go to group therapy?"

Bridgman is CEO of Bridgehaven Mental Health Services. He believes when 988 goes live next month, it will answer a lot of those questions and save lives.

"It's important for people to be able to pick up the phone or text and call and get help and having 988 is so easy," he said. "It's a lot easier than the one 800 number that was its predecessor."

For more than 20 years, Christopher 2X with Game Changers has been working to reduce violence in the community. He said there is a correlation between people dying from violent crimes and those who die by suicide.

"There has been some cases documented over time, that when violent crime situations occur and that kind of trauma, equally, there has been suicides to follow within families because they couldn't handle that trauma and they didn't know how to seek help for it," said 2X.

That's why 2X is optimistic and eager for the 988 hotline to go live.

"Absolutely, because mental health is becoming a big conversation in the black community, to be quite frank with you and even in the violent crime space of conversations," said 2X.

The new number is a nationwide hotline, but each state is responsible for implementation.

"It might have made a difference, I don't know, nobody can know," Farmer said.

Farmer doesn't know if the new hotline would have saved his daughter, but he often wonders...what if?

"It would have been a nice option to have had," said Farmer.

The new, shorter number would likely lead to more calls, which in turn would mean more expenses for crisis centers already struggling to keep up.

If the number of calls to the hotline doubled, centers would need an extra $50 million a year to handle the increase, the FCC said, citing the federal agency that funds the hotline, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.