New Suicide Prevention Number Takes Effect In VA: What To Know

VIRGINIA — The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline telephone number was simplified to 988 on Saturday — a change that residents of nearly three dozen states, including Virginia, began preparing for last year when they had to include the area code in local cellphone calls.

Until the switch on July 16, Commonwealth residents in crisis had to dial or text 800-273-8255. Online chat services are also available. Service members, veterans and their families can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by pressing 1, or by either texting 838255, or online.

All those suicide prevention services will remain operational after the transition, too, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Overall, Virginia residents of all ages of Virginia died by suicide in 2020, which amounts to 1,202 suicide deaths per 100,000 people according to CDC. That compares to 1,140 suicide deaths in 2019.

The change was required because the new three-digit suicide prevention hotline number was also a prefix (the second set of three digits of a phone number) in 82 area codes in 35 states and Guam.

Some mental health experts are worried states haven’t adequately prepared for the switch to 988.

Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, an assistant secretary at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said at a news conference Thursday she has been working with states on funding to determine their readiness for the 988 switch, USA Today reported.

Some crisis centers are worried about their ability to staff crisis response centers, and about funding needed for the launch. A report from the agency Delphin-Rittmon heads projects that calls to the suicide hotline will increase by more than half in 2022 with 7.6 million calls, texts or online chats, compared to 3.3 million in 2020.

The Biden administration set aside $432 million for the initial investment in the transition, another $177 million to expand the lifeline infrastructure and almost $105 million in direct grants to states and territories, Delphin-Rittmon said.

Fewer than half of state legislatures have approved bills to fund 988 implementation, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Virginia lawmakers in 2021 passed a Crisis Call Center Fund to ensures residents reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from any jurisdiction in the Commonwealth 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The law created a 12-cent surcharge on postpaid wireless charges and an 8-cent surcharge on prepaid wireless charges to be used for establishing and administering the crisis call center. The law also increases the wireless E-911 surcharge from $0.75 to $0.82 and the prepaid wireless E-911 charge from 50 cents to 55 cents.

The 988 rollout comes amid escalating suicides and suicide attempts, especially among adolescents and teen girls ages 12-17, during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research.

Mental health-related emergency room visits by people in that age group increased 31 percent in 2020, compared to 2019, and the trend appears to be continuing, according to CDC research. It showed:

From Feb. 21-March 20, 2021, ER visits for attempted suicides among girls ages 12-17 were 50.6 percent higher than during the same period in 2019. Over the same period, the increase in suicide attempts for boys of the same ages was 3.7 percent.

The trend is alarming because overall, suicide rates are significantly higher among males than females, according to CDC data cited in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report on the 988 conversion.