According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more people died from suicide in the United States in 2022 than any other year on record dating back to 1941. In 2022 (the last year for which stats are available), 49,449 lives were lost due to intentional self-harm. Men were about four times more likely than women to die by suicide, and rates were highest among senior men. But the suicide rate increased twice as much for women in 2022 with especially significant increases among White women ages 25 to 34.
The CDC reports that only one-half of people with mental illness receive treatment.
Few people seem to be aware of the constant work the social work community has been doing in response to this growing suicide crisis. In recent years, government and nonprofit agencies alike have invested countless man hours and billions of dollars to make the latest crisis communication technology available to everyone equally.
988 is the new short code created to expand access to mental health services provided by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The current administration has recently invested almost $1 billion to support the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Prior to this investment, the 988 Lifeline, which has existed since 2005, had been long underfunded and under resourced. Congress has provided the Department of Health and Human Services funding through the American Rescue Plan, and the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 allows states to enact new telecommunication fees to help support 988 operations.
There are also several existing federal resources that can be leveraged to support 988 implementations. Examples from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) include 988 Lifeline grants to states; the 988 Lifeline crisis center follow-up grant; the crisis set-aside through the Mental Health Block Grant; and funding through the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic program.
Crisis Text Line is a global nonprofit organization providing free and confidential text-based mental health support and crises intervention by texting HOME to 741741. The Crisis Text Line serves people across the United States experiencing any type of crisis and provides free, 24/7 emotional support and information through texting with a live, trained specialist. For the past eight years, Crisis Text Line has conducted roughly 3,500 conversations a day with people in pain through a medium that works for them: text messaging. Texting breaks through some of the barriers to access and addresses the economic and lifestyle needs of Americans who need support.
The social work community is working to build 988 into a service that is truly accessible to all, especially considering the needs of young people who may not have autonomy over their own mental health care.
These innovations designed and implemented by a dedicated social work community are not intended to cure mental health but rather to make support readily available to sufferers who find themselves in crisis. It has proven to be a noble effort.