988 is live!!!

Major change as of today!!! 988 is the new simpler dial plan for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline!

988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. While some areas may be currently able to connect to the Lifeline by dialing 988, this dialing code will be available to everyone across the United States starting on July 16, 2022. 

When people call, text, or chat 988, they will be connected to trained counselors that are part of the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. These trained counselors will listen, understand how their problems are affecting them, provide support, and connect them to resources if necessary.

The current Lifeline phone number (1-800-273-8255) will always remain available to people in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, even after 988 is launched nationally.

Full article, HERE!

This is important folks! We’re still losing about 20 veterans a day to suicide, and an untold number of others for a myriad of reasons. If you know somebody, or you are having trouble, PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE AND CALL!

We want you to get help because we value you and care about you. If you won’t talk to us, reach out to these folks, please!

 

Comments

988 is live!!! — 7 Comments

    • They’re not ‘bailing out of the fight’. That’s not what’s happening to these people at all. They’ve -lost- the fight and they’re in no shape to come back and fight anymore.
      Rehabilitating these people isn’t always easy and in some cases it may not even be possible. Folks don’t set foot on that road easily. It takes a lot to drive you to it. Some of the things that got them there can never be fixed can never be changed. Some burdens you carry with you to the grave, you can never put them down.
      For some people there really is no other choice and that’s the saddest thing you’ll ever know.

  1. The problem is: If you call, they know who you are. And they won’t be keeping that information private.

    Guess what can happen to you if ‘they’ think you’re suicidal in certain places:
    All your weapons are confiscated (good luck getting them back).
    You are locked up for ‘observation’ (hopefully they’ll let you out after 48 hours).
    You can lose your job.
    You WILL lose your security clearances.
    It will be on your permanent record and follow you for life. Heaven help you if you ever end up in a civil case, or a federal one. These things always get out.

    A lot of folks who are very much in need of help KNOW this. And because they know it, they will NEVER call a national hotline. Because the government keeps records -always- the hospitals keep records -always-, and those records always seem to end up becoming public, one way or another. And people will look at you funny for having had these issues.

    This is a difficult issue. Giving the government any control over it at all makes it moreso. The folks that need it the most are now likely to be the ones to use it the least.

  2. Ed/John- Good points. But hopefully, folks WILL reach out, rather than committing suicide.

    CP- Thanks!

  3. Hmph. Last time I was feeling bummed-out, I called one of the Hotlines. I told the “less than English-speaking” operator I was feeling depressed and suicidal. He asked me if I knew how to drive a truck.
    In all seriousness, suicide is a major problem with military/first-responders, especially in our mid-Woke, post-COVID, Antifa/BLM, inflationary world.
    Thanks for passing on the information and stay safe out there…
    Wandering Neurons

  4. Pingback: PSA: 988 is Live! | The Elegant Ungulate