What can you do to spread awareness about suicide ?
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by SAMHSA has been administered by Vibrant Emotional Health since it began as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in 2005 (see Lifeline Timeline).
The 988 Lifeline is a national network of over 200 local, independent crisis centers equipped to help people in mental health-related distress or experiencing a suicidal crisis via call, chat, or text. The 988 Lifeline provides free and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the U.S.
988 offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress. That could be:
- Thoughts of suicide
- Mental health or substance use crisis, or
- Any other kind of emotion distress
People can call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.
988 serves as a universal entry point so that no matter where you live in the United States, you can reach a trained crisis counselor who can help.
Too many people are experiencing suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress without the support and care they need, and sadly, the pandemic only made a bad situation worse when it comes to mental health and wellness in America.
There are urgent realities driving the need for crisis service transformation across our country. Some statistics:
- In 2020 alone, the U.S. had one death by suicide about every 11 minutes
- For people aged 10 – 34 years, suicide is a leading cause of death, and
- From April 2020 to 2021, over 100,000 individuals died from drug overdoses.