New 988 mental health line will save lives. Now Missouri and Kansas must fund it

Missouri and Kansas, along with the rest of the United States, are set to launch the new 988 national mental health emergency hotline this weekend to make it easier for people in crisis to get help. But it’s going to take a lot more state funding to keep this lifesaving operation sustained long term, and lawmakers must make sure that happens.

The 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number transitions to 988 on July 16, and it needs to become as familiar as 911.

“The goal of 988 is to provide a simple number that will make interventions and resources more accessible to people experiencing a mental health crisis,” said Tim Deweese, Johnson County Mental Health Center Director.

Like 911, the easy-to-remember three digit-number “will save lives around the country,” Deweese said. It’s not just an emergency number to call, but it’s also a connection to services for the person in crisis or a concerned friend or family member.

National data shows that mental health conditions have been rising for years. The national nonprofit Mental Health America reported in 2019 that America’s suicide rates were at the highest level since World War II.

More than 2.5 million young people in the U.S. have severe depression, and multiracial and LGBTQ youths are at greatest risk, according to the association.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 exacerbated mental health problems by forcing people into isolation away from support systems — family, friends, schools and the workplace. But the pandemic also showed clearly that mental illness is indiscriminate, affecting people of any age, economic status, race or religion.

The good news is that with more awareness about mental illness, more people are seeking help. In the first half of this year, the Johnson County crisis line received 18,600 calls — more than twice the 7,784 calls it got in all of 2017.

Still, millions continue to suffer in silence. More than half of adults with mental illness do not receive treatment. The percentage of untreaded children is even greater and has led to an increase in suicide and drug use among teens, according to the MHA report.

While 988 will be available nationally, it is up to each state to develop a plan and secure the money to make sure the 24-hour crisis hotline is sustainable.

Calls to 988 connect to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which routes them to some 200 crisis call centers around the country. The response to calls will vary from state to state, city to city.

In Kansas and Missouri, callers can be connected to a trained crisis specialist. “The intervention may include assessment, stabilization, referral and follow-up for individuals at high risk for suicide and/or poor mental health outcomes,” a Missouri Department of Mental Health worksheet says.

Rob MacDougall, clinical director of emergency services for Johnson County Mental Health, said the plan “is to also have mobile crisis response teams that can be sent out” at a moment’s notice. And with 988 making calls for help easier, call centers expect the number to boom.

Missouri state mental health officials anticipate that with 988, call centers will get more than 258,000 calls statewide — more than four times the current volume, at a cost of about $16 million. State funding and federal block grants are helping, but long-term funding remains in question.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health will have to request an appropriation annually to sustain 988 service. There are no guarantees.

Last month, the Kansas Legislature approved $6 million in funding for 988 call centers for two years. Centers have already hired additional staff in anticipation.

But MacDougall is right: His state of Kansas and Missouri “need to have predictable and ongoing funding beyond the next two years” to grow the operations and ensure their effectiveness and sustainability.

After the most recent string of mass killings — including the murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, by an obviously disturbed teenager — lawmakers who oppose stronger gun laws have harped on the need for more mental health services. Fully paying for 988 call centers should be the least that red state legislatures can do.

An efficient and well-funded mental health crisis and intervention system will divert mental health crises away from already burdened systems including hospitals, courts and jails. It could reduce arrests, incarcerations and potentially violent encounters with police.

In other words, the new 988 crisis hotline will keep a lot of people safer. Let’s make it work now and over the long term.