Many people in mental health crises fear that if they call the 988 line, police might show up or they might be forced to go to the hospital. Getting "involuntary emergency rescue" happens to only 1% of callers, suggests data from Vibrant Emotional Health, the administrator of the 988 lifeline for suicide and mental health crises, reports CBS News. "Involuntary intervention is the last resort. We want to make sure we're collaborating and engaging with people in crisis and empowering them, so we don't need to go in that direction," said Vibrant's Christopher Drapeau, Vibrant. A Pew Charitable Trusts survey found that around 1 in 5 adults worry that law enforcement would be sent after them for using 988 or that they might be forced to go to the hospital. Under 988 policies, counselors are urged to use "the least invasive intervention" possible to respond to suicide attempts. If other attempts to deescalate fail, then counselors can summon other emergency response services like an involuntary rescue.
Counselors for 988 do not have the ability to track the location of callers. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which oversees Vibrant and the hotline, says in "rare situations" that counselors are able to ask a 911 dispatcher to use "geolocation services" to try and find where a call is coming from. Drapeau said a white paper Vibrant issued is his team's first evaluating the performance of 988 and is the most comprehensive look at the topic to date Police often have been the go-to for 911 dispatchers responding to suiicide attempts. Advocacy groups have called for more jurisdictions to fund "mobile crisis teams" that can respond to suicide attempts with medics and behavioral health professionals, instead of police. The new report includes 2 million calls made from 2019 through 2023. For context, more than 400,000 calls were routed by 988 in July.
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