Tulsa World– A three-digit phone number that links Oklahomans to mental health support generated nearly 40,000 calls in its first year, a number that should only keep rising as efforts to promote it continue.
“We didn’t have specific goals. We just knew there was an emerging need. But I would say the numbers have surpassed our expectations,” Bonnie Campo, state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services spokeswoman, said of Oklahoma’s 988 Mental Health Lifeline, which launched in July 2022.
The hotline allows users to call or text 988 and connect immediately with trained mental health professionals, with mobile crisis teams available statewide when an in-person response is needed.
Over the 12 months since the launch, the program’s Oklahoma City-based call center has averaged over 3,000 calls a month from across the state, an average that is steadily increasing.
Justin Chase, president and CEO of Solari, the Arizona company that operates Oklahoma’s 988 service, said he expects that growth to continue.
“I would not be surprised by a 20 to 25% increase in overall calls the next year, as awareness and the public’s comfort level utilizing the service grows,” he said. “As one person has success, hopefully they’ll share with their friends and family.”
The first year’s numbers are a “huge accomplishment and testimony to incredible partnerships throughout the community,” he added.
The new three-digit number replaced the 11-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, following a push from advocates for a shorter, easier-to-remember number for people in crisis.
Oklahoma took advantage of the change to launch its own 988 service. But in addition to crisis help, state officials expanded on the national model by focusing equally on prevention.
Campo said first-year results have affirmed that approach. The most common reason for calling 988 in Oklahoma has been “coordination of care,” which accounts for 22% of calls, just ahead of thoughts of suicide/self-harm, at 20%.
Coordination-of-care calls are “when people just want to know how do I get connected to someone that can help me — where should I go, what should I do to start that process,” Campo said.
“Those numbers are really encouraging for us,” she added, “because it means people are taking care of themselves before they are at the point of crisis.”
Meanwhile, word about what Oklahoma is doing is getting out, Campo said.
Other states developing 988 strategies “have come to us and said, ‘We think of you all as a beacon of what we want to be — providing services in a preventative way through 988, rather than just having it be (crisis).’”
‘Kept me alive’
The call center operators, licensed and certified health crisis specialists, are trained to provide conversational support or, if the situation requires, to dispatch mobile crisis teams.
The help is free and confidential and is available in English and Spanish.
Officials said that about 90% of the time, one phone call is all that’s needed, with the operator talking the caller through what’s going on and connecting them with the specific type of help needed.
Most are first-time callers, although repeat callers are not uncommon, often due to simple loneliness, Campo said.
“Loneliness is also a huge contributor to depression. So we want people to call in their first time or second time or third time if they need to,” she said.
Chase, whose company operates the call center and mobile dispatch service, said operators are reminded daily of why what they are doing matters.
“We had one individual call us in a state of distress and contemplating ending their life. We created a plan with them and set up to call them back the next day to check in.”
He said that when the operator called the next day, the person told them, “’It was knowing that you’re going to call me back that kept me alive for the night.’
“It was really powerful for staff to be able to experience — that such a simple thing can make such a difference,” Chase said.
“Our operators are taking calls like that every day,” he added.
Chase said it’s important to emphasize, though, that a person doesn’t have to be considering suicide or self-harm to reach out.
“The number is for anybody — there’s not a bar you have to reach or a situation that is not severe enough to call,” he said. “Crisis impacts individuals differently. We just want to make sure that for anybody who is struggling, they don’t hesitate to reach out.”
Campo said making 988 as universally recognized as 911 will take continued work.
Her department coordinated the statewide rollout and marketing of Oklahoma’s 988 Mental Health Lifeline, which has included billboards and even a Super Bowl ad.
“We have to continue our efforts, especially in rural Oklahoma and smaller towns — places where they don’t have big billboards,” she said. “To do that, we’re working with faith-based groups; we’re working at school districts, police departments and city governments to do some education.”
Campo said state officials have high hopes for what the hotline can accomplish for mental health in Oklahoma.
“I think of it as our ministry,” she said. “Nine-eight-eight is what we’re trying to evangelize.”
For more information, go to 988Oklahoma.com. A public dashboard showing up-to-date statistics is available at tinyurl.com/ybnfd3v9.