Dial 988 in the United States and a call, text or chat reaches the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Callers can press one for the Veterans Crisis Line, two for a Spanish-speaking counselor or interpreter services in over 240 languages, or three for a counselor trained to support LGBTQIA+ individuals.
The number is easy to remember, and that was the point. The service started in 2001 as the National Suicide Prevention Line, which asked people in distress to dial ten digits. On July 16th, 2022, it was designated the national number for mental health crisis calls and texts.
How it got here
Congress funded the original hotline to answer a growing suicide epidemic. It began taking calls in 2004 and logged 46,000 of them by 2005. Spanish language support arrived in 2006, the Veterans Crisis Line in 2007, and online chat in 2013 for people who could not or would not phone. In 2016, Google began showing the Lifeline as a front-page result for suicide-related searches.
The Senate passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act in 2018, with updates in 2019 and 2020. That law set the three-digit rollout in motion. Current legislation also requires specialized services for high-risk groups, among them LGBTQIA+ individuals, BIPOC communities and people in rural areas.
The numbers
By 2020 the Lifeline was handling more than 3.3 million contacts a year. In 2023, its first full year under the 988 number, it managed five million. More than 200 crisis centers across the country take the calls, texts and chats. Vibrant Emotional Health administers the line, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funds it.
The need is plain. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention ranks suicide as the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. Over 49,000 people died by suicide in 2022, with an estimated 1.6 million suicide attempts.
The Lifeline posts its performance data every month. In May 2024 it supported over 610,000 contacts, and conversations averaged 22 minutes. One summary of the service’s first two years reports that 98% of calls were de-escalated without emergency intervention.
The Lifeline takes people in suicidal thoughts, those with a plan, and those dealing with substance use, mania, psychosis or another mental health emergency. Callers get resources matched to their situation. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Support runs 24/7.
