Suicide Hotline offers more than a listening ear

By Brad Ziegler

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and mental health organizations throughout the country are hoping to raise awareness of an important crisis that continues to grow more deadly each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Missouri lost 1219 lives to suicide in 2023 and the suicide rate in Kansas has grown more than 50% over the last decade.

The impact of suicide cuts across demographic groups and economic strata and imposes a staggering emotional and financial cost on families and the economy. This impact was one of the driving factors in the establishment of the national 988 suicide prevention hotline in 2022, an effort to streamline the pre-existing patchwork of local crisis lines and ten-digit phone numbers. The 988 hotline was created through an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars by the US Department of Health and Human Services as part of the American Rescue Plan, but the federal government has looked to the states to implement and fund the operation of 988 service going forward.

In its first two years, the 988 hotline has been used by more than 20 million callers seeking help and resources to combat mental health challenges. A report by the mental health advocacy organization, Inseparable, recently found that Missouri and Kansas have both ranked among the top states in their responsiveness to the large volume of calls to the hotline by their residents, with 94% of the calls being answered in Missouri and 88% of the calls being answered in Kansas. The report found, however, that work remains to be done by both states to meet the needs of those callers.

The best practices for behavioral health crisis care lines include an efficient funneling of these 988 calls to 1) provide someone to talk to, 2) provide, if needed, a prompt response to the caller by a mobile crisis response team, similar to the response provided by an ambulance to a medical emergency, and 3) provide, if needed, a safe place for care. The local 988 services in Kansas City offer the caller the option to talk to a responder, to exchange text messages, to engage in an online chat or to participate in a video call.

Most recently, the hotline can suggest urgent care at two local mental health behavioral clinics where same-day access treatment and medication are provided, eliminating the need for emergency rooms for mental health and substance use crises. Those clinics are ReDiscover’s Behavioral Health Urgent Care Clinic, 7001 Blue Ridge Blvd., in Raytown, and the Behavioral Crisis Center, 17421 Medical Center Parkway, in Independence. The latter, operated by Comprehensive Mental Health Services, is open 24 hours. ReDiscover is open 9 am to 7 pm.