Accelerating Adoption of the 988 Mental Health Crisis Hotline

Every year, approximately 18 million calls are made to 911 that involve mental or behavioral health crises. The rapid, police-led response that 911 is optimized for is not well suited for these situations, as appropriate crisis care is typically beyond responders’ scope of practice. This project recommends four low cost tech interventions that states should take up to divert mental and behavioral health crisis calls from 911 to 988: the new 988 Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Hotline launching in July of 2022.

Click below to view various resources for navigating the transition from 911 to 988, including a playbook for call centers and a policy brief detailing the importance of switching to 988.