Premium
FCC votes to designate 988 as new MH crisis hotline
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
mental health weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7583
pISSN - 1058-1103
DOI - 10.1002/mhw.32453
Subject(s) - hotline , phone , commission , service provider , service (business) , medical emergency , business , computer security , internet privacy , telecommunications , medicine , engineering , computer science , finance , marketing , philosophy , linguistics
The Federal Communications Commission on July 16 adopted rules to establish 988 as the new, nationwide, three‐digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors, according to an FCC press release. The rules require all phone service providers to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1‐800‐273‐TALK, or 1‐800‐273‐8255) by July 16, 2022. The new rules will apply to all telecommunications carriers as well as all interconnected and one‐way voice over Internet Protocol service providers. During the two‐year transition to 988, Americans who need help should continue to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling and through online chats. To ensure that calls to 988 reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, all covered providers will be required to implement 10‐digit dialing in areas that both use seven‐digit dialing and use 988 as the first three numbers in seven‐digit phone numbers.