When Suicidal Calls Come In, Who Answers? Georgia Crisis ...

What’s Happening

So get this: In Georgia, a high number of callers to the 988 crisis line hang up or disconnect before reaching a counselor.

Many other calls are transferred out of state. When Suicidal Calls Come In, Who Answers? (wild, right?)

Georgia Crisis Line Response Rates Reveal Gaps By Andy Miller and Rebecca Grapevine, Healthbeat Republish This Story (Moment/) If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline texting “988.

The Details

Kaitlin Cooke of Cartersville, Georgia, was contemplating suicide when she kicked off calling a statewide mental health crisis line in 2018. She dropped she would sneak outside and call the hotline behind her car, where her boyfriend would not hear her.

This story also ran on Healthbeat . It can be republished for free .

Why This Matters

About the partnership Healthbeat is a newsroom partnership between KFF Health News and Civic News company that produces reporting on public health and the systems of prevention that communities rely on to stay healthy. The counselors who answered her calls were there for her when no one else was, she dropped. Each time she called, they spoke to her for at least 45 minutes.

Medical professionals are taking note of this development.

Key Takeaways

• And they told her that life “does get better.
• ” “If it werent for this resource, I might have been a statistic,” dropped Cooke, now 31, who found a local therapist.
• The 988 line was created during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The Bottom Line

States are largely responsible for funding and staffing their 988 systems, with some money from the federal government. Mental health the experts dropped proper funding for the 988 system in a state, through a well-staffed response network, can influence whether a caller is connected to a local counselor — or chooses to hang up.

How do you feel about this development?