While the nation’s new 988 mental health lifeline takes effect Saturday, Oklahoma is ahead of the curve.
Oklahoma made the switch July 5, said Thomas Bond, communications director for Solari Crisis and Human Services, based in Tempe, Arizona.
Solari has the contract with the state to operate the 988 call center here.
It will replace the national suicide prevention lifeline, which is 1-800-273-8255. Those who still call the 10-digit number from within the state will be routed to Oklahoma’s call center.
“It still works the same way,” said Jeff Dismukes, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. “Calls go in through the national phone tree. Calls that originate in Oklahoma with an Oklahoma phone number are routed back to the Oklahoma call center in Oklahoma City.”
Bond said that “someone can call for themselves or a loved one and get help for issues ranging from suicidal thoughts to thinking of harming someone else to depression, anxiety, stress and relationship issues.”
“For whatever they are having issues with, our trained crisis intervention specialists will try to resolve issues over the phone,” he continued.
“If a person needs continued help, (the call taker) can connect them with local resources available to them in their area of Oklahoma.”
The specialists can also dispatch a mobile crisis team to a location, Bond said.
The free and confidential lifeline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also links to the Veterans Crisis Line.
The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, signed into law after the passage of legislation in 2020, authorized 988 as a nationwide three-digit number for suicide and mental health crisis.
All telephone service and text providers in the United States and five major U.S. territories are required to activate 988 no later than Saturday.
The lifeline is being paid for with federal dollars, Dismukes said.
Solari will be paid just under $5 million the first year and about $3.5 million each of the remaining years of the three-year contract.
About 4.1% of adults in Oklahoma had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, Dismukes said. Also, one in 10 students reported attempting suicide in the past 12 months, he said.