Since 988 launch, mental health crisis services have faltered Study shows the nationwide system is falling well short of its potential, while funding issues loom

Since 988 launch, mental health crisis services have faltered Study shows the nationwide system is falling well short of its potential, while funding issues loom https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/29/988-mental-health-crisis-services-faltered-since-2022-launch/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9mQdQml1mpqocbOHq1PQhN0TEmBbBjrz9wTfKMrNz8MBG0p3gQ-e7jvTqti2sNEI5kAzclOWaByb65aUP3jmgk9tBdVQ&_hsmi=344824080&utm_content=344824080&utm_source=hs_email Mental health crisis services faltering after 988 Two and a half years ago, 988 launched as the number anyone across the country could dial in to ask for help with a mental health crisis. It’s one facet of a larger mental health care system, and a key objective of its rollout was to help strengthen an underfunded, patchwork system that left many people alone in times of crisis. But while calls to the national hotline continue to increase, new research shows that fewer psychiatric facilities are offering emergency psychiatric walk-in services, mobile crisis response units, and suicide prevention services. “If we don’t actually enhance access to care,” physician Ashwini Nadkarni said, “then one wonders how much we’re actually achieving.” Read more in my latest on the state of the country’s mental health crisis care system.