The First Year 

and Beyond

Last updated April 9, 2024
In its first year, 

the 988 three-digit dial code has grown and evolved to give hope to millions of people in need by connecting them with 

trained crisis counselors. The transition to 988 from a full ten-digit number was an immense step forward and offered an 

unprecedented opportunity to strengthen and transform crisis care in our country.

Someone to talk to. Someone to respond. 

A safe place for help.

Strengthening and Expanding the 

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Transforming America’s Behavioral 

Health Crisis System.

The Biden-Harris Administration has a bold vision for the The overarching goal of transforming America’s Behavioral 

future of crisis care in our nation. It is built on a belief that Health Crisis System is to save lives by serving anyone, at 

everyone experiencing crisis should have: Someone to talk any time, from anywhere, and in a manner that promotes 

to. Someone to respond. A safe place for help. linkages to ongoing local supports. The implementation 

of 988 is a tremendous step forward to achieving this The successful implementation of the 988 Suicide & Crisis goal, but a crisis care system with 988 at its core can’t Lifeline is a leap toward realizing that vision by providing be built overnight. Transformation of this scale takes time an easy to remember portal for care for anyone in crisis and depends heavily on state and territory support and and a network of call centers across the nation with trained 

collaboration at all levels with federal, state, tribal, and local counselors ready to answer texts, chats, or calls from people governments and national partners. in crisis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

988 Milestones to Date

In the year since rolling out the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 

the line has answered nearly 5 million contacts

— nearly 2 million more than the previous 12 months following 

the $1 billion Biden-Harris Administration investment.

Of the nearly 5 million answered, about 665,000 were texts.

Compared to the 12 months prior, 

TEXTS:

1135%

CHATS:

141%

CALLS:

46%

The average speed to answer decreased from 

2 minutes and 39 seconds to 41 seconds.

Of the 5 million contacts in the past year, almost 1 million were 

answered by the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). The 988 Lifeline 

links to the VCL, which military members, veterans, and their 

families can reach by dialing 988 and pressing option 1.

I searched on Google to locate information 

on how to peacefully die by suicide. 

However, the first search result I found 

was information on 988. I decided to reach 

out to 988 and am so thankful that I was 

connected with the assistance 

and guidance I needed, instead of the 

assistance I originally searched for. 

He called because 

he was about to attempt 

suicide. He was heartbroken, 

crying, devastated. And he felt that 

he couldn’t take the pressure of being 

a provider. By the end of the call, he 

thanked me and said that he wouldn’t 

be alive if it wasn’t for our services and 

resources.

Deyanira Carceres,

Spanish Bilingual 

Program Coordinator, 

Didi Hirsch Mental 

Health Services 

Need Support Now? If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Expanding Lifesaving Services

In addition to making enhancements across the existing 

988 technology system, bolstering cybersecurity, and 

introducing a new learning management system for crisis 

counselors, the 988 Lifeline has also expanded services for 

key populations:

• 988 added Spanish text and chat services to expand

Spanish call services, which have been in place

since 2006, along with over 240 additional languages

provided through translation services through

Language Line.

• Following a successful pilot, 988 added specialized

services for LGBTQI+ youth and young adults who

want to connect with a counselor specifically focused

on meeting their needs.

• In the coming months, 988 will add video

phone service to better serve deaf and hard of

hearing individuals.

988 Specialized Services

1 Military veterans, service members, and 

their families can reach the VCL by calling 

988 and selecting option 1, texting 988 

(or 838255 directly), or chatting online at 

988Lifeline.org.

2 Spanish speakers can connect directly 

to Spanish-speaking crisis counselors by 

calling 988 and pressing option 2, texting 

“AYUDA” to 988, or chatting online at 

linea988.org or 988Lifeline.org.

3 Youth and young adults seeking specialized 

services for LGBTQI+ can call 988 and 

select option 3, text “PRIDE” to 988, or chat 

988Lifeline.org.

How 988 Works

The U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Substance 

Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 

(SAMHSA) is the lead federal agency that awards federal 

funding and provides oversight and support for the 988 

Lifeline. Other major federal partners include the Federal 

Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of 

Veterans Affairs. 

SAMHSA funds Vibrant Emotional Health, a national non-profit, 

which supports the network, data, quality, training, and routing 

of 988 Lifeline contacts, as well as the back-up network. 

SAMHSA also collaborates with states, territories, and tribes; 

and with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention 

(Action Alliance), the National Association of State Mental 

Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), and hundreds of 

other private and public sector organizations to ensure the 

success of 988.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is made up of an expansive 

network of over 200 local – and state – funded crisis centers 

located across the United States. The counselors at these 

local crisis centers answer calls, texts, and chats from people 

in distress that the 988 Lifeline receives every day. Trained 

crisis counselors are there 24/7 to listen, assess risk, help 

with safety planning, and provide referrals and linkages to 

additional community-based support, as needed. The 988 

Lifeline’s crisis centers provide the specialized care of a local 

community with the support of a national network.

988 Crisis Center Locations

• Anyone who calls, texts, or chats 988 is

not required to disclose their identity

or location to receive services from the

988 Lifeline.

• Trained counselors in more than 200

call centers across the U.S. are ready

to answer calls, texts, and chats at any time

of day or night.

Need Support Now? If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
People who call the 988 Lifeline are given three options:

1 PRESS 1 to connect with the Veterans Crisis Line

2 PRESS 2 to connect with the Spanish subnetwork

3 PRESS 3 to connect with LGBTQI+ support for

youth and young adults

• For any option, the caller should remain on the line to

be connected to a local crisis center; if a local crisis

center is unable to answer, the caller is routed to a

national backup center.

• Additionally, people who text/chat the 988 Lifeline

are given an option to access Spanish-speaking

counselors or to choose the LGBTQI+ support

national subnetwork. All people who choose to access

either of these services are connected to crisis centers

equipped to respond through texts and chats.

Vision for Crisis Services Within the Broader Behavioral Health Ecosystem 

A fully developed behavioral health crisis system is responsive any time and any place. A crisis response system must have 

the capacity to prevent, recognize, respond, de-escalate, and follow up from crises across a continuum, from crisis planning, 

to early stages of support and respite, to crisis stabilization and intervention, to post-crisis follow-up and support for the 

individual and their family. Given the multisystem involvement of many individuals with behavioral health issues, the crisis 

system approach provides the infrastructure to improve care coordination and outcomes and better invest resources for the 

entire behavioral health system. 

The Biden Harris Administration supports a behavioral health crisis care system that includes someone to talk to, someone 

to respond, and a safe place for help. This includes crisis lines, mobile crisis response teams, and crisis receiving centers that 

work together to coordinate care. These services address the acute behavioral health needs of people in crisis. Too often, 

people with mental health and substance use treatment needs cannot access the care they need when they need it, or they 

get lost in transition across a highly fragmented and under-resourced system. Underserved and marginalized populations, 

such as those from racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender minority groups, individuals with co-occurring intellectual/developmental 

disabilities, and rural communities often face additional burdens with respect to access and outcomes. 

The figure “Core Elements of the Behavioral 

Health Continuum” illustrates the critical 

intersections between the crisis care system and 

the broader behavioral health care continuum.

Required services cut across these care 

elements, with specific examples cited in the 

table “Services Included in the Behavioral 

Health Continuum” (see next page). Essential 

throughout is ensuring that systems are 

coordinated and integrated to meet the needs of 

people with mental and substance use concerns. 

Services must be trauma-informed, culturally and 

linguistically relevant across the developmental 

lifespan, and need to include linkages to services 

that address social determinants of health.

Core Elements of the Behavioral Health Continuum 

Prevention 

& Early 

Intervention

Crisis

Services

Treatment 

& Recovery 

Support

(Source: SAMHSA Advisory, “Peer Support Services in Crisis Care”, June 2022)

Need Support Now? If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Services Included in the Behavioral Health Continuum 

(Source: SAMHSA Advisory, “Peer Support Services in Crisis Care”, June 2022) 

Prevention & Early Intervention Services Behavioral Health Crisis Services Treatment & Recovery Support Services

• Public	awareness

• Community	recovery	capital

• Outreach

• Screening/brief	intervention

• Harm	reduction

• Drop-in	services

• Warm	lines

• First	Episode	Psychosis	programs

• Crisis	and	suicide	prevention	hotlines

• Mobile	crisis	teams

• Crisis	receiving	and	stabilizing

facilities	(including	in-home

stabilization)

• Peer	Respite	Centers

• First	responders

• Withdrawal	management

• Comprehensive	Psychiatric

Emergency	programs

• Recovery	support	services

• Case	management

• Opioid	treatment	programs

• Team-based	wraparound	care

• Outpatient	services

• Certified	Community	Behavioral

Health	Clinics

• Intensive	outpatient/day	services

• Residential	services

• Hospital/intensive	inpatient	services

• Warm	lines

• Assertive	Community	Treatment

It is critical to achieve a seamless integration of crisis services across 

the lifespan for both mental and substance use disorders.

The continuum of care encompasses a full range of services. It can support the needs of an individual with a mental and/or 

substance use disorder with preventive and early intervention care, recovery support services, crisis care, and more intensive 

outpatient or inpatient treatment and recovery, if needed. 

Funding for the 988 Lifeline

The Biden-Harris Administration has invested nearly $1 rates (see tables below — all states, territories, and tribal 

billion into the 988 Lifeline in recent years, not including organizations who applied for 988 funding opportunities were 

mental health block grants and other federal money that awarded funds). Additionally, about half of states have passed 

supports behavioral health care systems. This $1 billion appropriations to fund 988-related services. The remainder of 

includes funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the funding has been crucial to running the national backBipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), as part of the up network; launching and expanding the LGBTQI+ and 

President’s Unity Agenda to address the mental health crisis. Spanish language subnetworks; developing a video phone 

Also included is more than $200 million in grants that will option for people who are deaf or hard of hearing (set to 

be awarded in Fiscal Year 2023 to support states, territories, launch in the coming months); improving response for Tribal 

and tribes as they continue to build out local capacity for communities; improving training, workforce communication, 

crisis services and connect with more people in need. technical infrastructure, and data collection; and developing a 

coordinated awareness campaign with partners at all levels of A lot of the funding has gone to states, territories, tribes, and government and community. crisis centers to hire crisis counselors and improve response 

FY22 Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Build Local 988 Capacity

Funding Stream: American Rescue Plan (ARP); Supplement: Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA)

The funding that was awarded in FY22 to states and territories was based upon 988 Lifeline routed call volume from FY21.

State/Territory Government Agency Name Total Funding

Alabama $2,426,822 

American Samoa Government $708,333 

Arizona $2,953,661 

Arkansas $1,273,660 

California $14,488,135 

Need Support Now? If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
State/Territory Government Agency Name Total Funding

Colorado $3,458,104 

Connecticut $1,414,979 

Delaware $708,333 

Florida $7,284,388 

Georgia $3,927,923 

Guam $708,333 

Hawaii $949,275 

Nevada $2,069,192 

Idaho $642,017 

Illinois $6,496,838 

Indiana $3,016,340 

Iowa $1,391,233 

Kansas $1,394,270 

Kentucky $2,163,404 

Louisiana $2,352,934 

Maine $727,329 

Maryland $2,972,989 

Massachusetts $3,563,100 

Michigan $5,350,829 

Minnesota $2,845,532 

Mississippi $1,151,559 

Missouri $2,850,668 

Montana $850,424 

North Carolina $5,252,972 

Nebraska $1,089,374 

New Jersey $3,521,695 

New Mexico $886,787 

New York $9,279,976 

New Hamphire $796,635 

Northern Mariana Islands $708,333 

North Dakota $708,333 

Ohio $5,315,098 

Oklahoma $2,047,986 

Oregon $3,114,860 

Pennsylvania $5,187,862 

Puerto Rico $708,333 

South Carolina $2,390,817 

South Dakota $708,333 

Tennessee $2,688,142 

Texas $10,367,877 

Utah $2,409,262 

Vermont $708,333 

Virgin Islands $708,333 

Virginia $3,642,519 

Washington $3,245,711 

Washington D.C. $841,037 

West Virginia $1,019,464 

Wisconsin $2,787,657 

Wyoming $708,333 

Total Funding for States and Territories $150,984,666 

FY22 Support for 988 Tribal Response Cooperative Agreements

Funding Stream: Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

Indian Tribe/Tribal Organization Name Total Funding

Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board $1,925,000 

American Indian Health Service Of Chicago $249,699 

Black Feet Tribe $825,000

Catawba Indian Nation $250,000 

Cherokee Nation $1,883,431

Need Support Now? If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Indian Tribe/Tribal Organization Name Total Funding

Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes $825,000

Choctaw Nation Of Oklahoma $1,924,766

Chugachmiut, Inc. $250,000

Comanche Nation $949,852

Eastern Shoshone Tribe $250,000

Fort Peck Assiniboine And Sioux Tribes $249,914 

Iowa Tribe Of Oklahoma, Inc. $250,000 

Muscogee Creek Nation $825,000 

Navajo Nation Tribal Government $1,925,000

Northern Cheyenne Tribe $250,000 

Osage Nation $250,000 

Pala Band Of Mission Indians $250,000 

Port Gamble S'klallam Tribe $250,000 

Rocky Boy Health Board $250,000 

South Dakota Urban Indian Health, Inc. $267,881 

Southern Plains Tribal Health Board Foundation $1,925,000

Wabanaki Health And Wellness $250,000

Wichita & Affiliated Tribes $849,859 

Total Funding for Tribal Organizations $17,125,402

Media Resources for Reporting on 988

The media plays an important role in preventing suicide and opening 

up conversations about mental health. Scan the QR code to access 

the 988 Newsroom, which provides support materials for journalists to 

write about this topic, including informational resources, performance 

metrics, images, b-roll video, and soundbites of various 988 call centers 

and mobile crisis teams around the U.S. 

For national media requests, please email media@samhsa.hhs.gov.

988 

Newsroom

Reporters and editors are encouraged to include the following language when reporting about suicide: 

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. 

Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.