Many people who experience mental health crises Dial 988The police may show up and you may be forced to go to hospital.
But they suggest such “involuntary emergency rescues” occur in around 1% of callers. New Data From the admin at Vibrant Emotional Health 988 Suicide and Mental Health Crisis Lifeline.
“Involuntary intervention is a last resort. We work together to Engaging with people in crisis “Our mission is to empower them, so we don’t have to go in that direction,” said Christopher Drapeau, Vibrant’s director of research and evaluation.
Pew Charitable Trusts Survey last year Research cited in Vibrant’s white paper found that around one in five adults worry they will be chased by police or forced to go to hospital for using 988.
According to 988 PolicyWhen responding to a suicide attempt, counselors are urged to use the “least invasive intervention” possible, but if other mitigation measures fail, they can call in other emergency response services, such as mandatory rescue.
988 counselors do not have the ability to track callers’ exact locations, but Vibrant and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which oversees the hotline, say: say In “rare circumstances,” counselors can ask 911 dispatchers to use “location services” to locate the source of the call.
It is not clear from the data what percentage of “unspontaneous” rescues relied on police responding to calls, rather than paramedics or other types of emergency response.
“We haven’t been as transparent in the past, so we want to acknowledge that and show people that this is where we are,” Drapeau told CBS News about the white paper he wrote.
Drapeau said the white paper is the first time his team has evaluated the performance of the 988 and is its most comprehensive look to date. The idea for the report came from discussions with SAMHSA officials.
Law enforcement agencies Often relied upon Funding for 911 dispatchers who respond to suicide attempts. Advocacy groups are calling for more jurisdictions to provide funding. “Mobile Crisis Response Team” An organization that allows doctors and behavioral health professionals to respond to suicide attempts instead of the police.
“If someone attempts suicide during a call and there are health consequences as a result, that needs to be addressed. So I’m not sure we can completely eliminate all coercive interventions,” Drapeau said.
“These numbers may not be perfect.”
Vibrant’s white paper focuses on two snapshots of data from when the number was primarily a 1-800 number, before the easy-to-remember 988 shortcut for reaching a counselor during a mental health crisis was rolled out nationwide.
The largest snapshot covered in the paper only covers around 2 million calls made between 2019 and 2023, a fraction of the current number of calls. Over 200 A locally run crisis centre will be the cornerstone of the network.
By comparison, more than 400,000 calls were routed through the 988 network. In July alone.
“We are aware of the limitations of these data. These figures may not be perfect. The figures might be different if data were reported from all centres or if there were more precise definitions. But today it seems that the majority of 988 calls do not involve the intervention of emergency services,” Drapeau said.
Of those roughly two million calls, emergency services (both “spontaneous” and “involuntary”) were dispatched in roughly 2% of cases, the white paper found.
A much narrower group of callers classified by counselors as being at “imminent risk of suicide” were more likely to receive emergency services.
Of these, a quarter were “voluntary dispatches” with the caller’s consent, and the remaining quarter were “involuntary” rescues.
Better data is on the way: While current figures rely on a combination of mandatory and voluntary reporting, a Vibrant spokesperson said the company is working with SAMHSA to develop national standards for metrics that all centers will be required to report in the future.
SAMHSA’s plan was created in April. Call States are required to submit data to the agency about the number of contacts that lead to the dispatch of law enforcement.
Another evaluation planned by Vibrant seeks to refine its definition of when it considers a caller to be in “imminent danger” and how to handle such cases. Drapeau said the evaluation will likely take years to complete, but it could help figure out how to move from involuntary to more collaborative interventions.
