New Mexico officials say shorter 988 hotline will help people in crisis

Jul. 16—A new hotline number meant to prevent suicide and help those in mental health crisis was launched in New Mexico on Saturday, shortening the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to 988.

Health officials say the number is easier to remember and meant to give people in crisis better access to mental health services. The number is paired with other state plans to improve services for people who are considering suicide.

The U.S. had one suicide death every 11 minutes in 2020, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the intermountain West in general and New Mexico in particular have long represented a disproportionate share of the nation's suicides. In 2020, New Mexico had the fourth-highest age-adjusted suicide rate in the country, with 520 suicide deaths, or 24.6 per 100,000 residents.

New Mexico's 2020 suicide rate is an increase from 19.9 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2010. Nationally, suicide rates increased 30 percent between 2000 and 2018 but dropped in 2019 and 2020.

Wendy Linebrink-Allison, program manager for the New Mexico Crisis and Access Line, said the number of calls to the hotline has risen in recent years, though there was a small drop early on in the coronavirus pandemic.

"I think that's the result of more people getting comfortable with talking about mental health," Linebrink-Allison said. "There has been a reduction in the stigma regarding talking about mental health and some more people are feeling like they are allowed to talk about it now."

Linebrink-Allison said there is a variety of reasons why a person might be in crisis.

"The crisis you're experiencing could be related to substance use; it could be related to domestic or interpersonal violence," she said. "It could be related to houselessness, feeling unsafe and experiencing some anxiety as a result of that."

The new, shorter number is the result of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by former President Donald Trump in 2020. The bill requires all telephone service and text providers in the U.S. and its territories to activate 988 no later than Saturday. The Biden administration increased funding for the hotline from $24 million to $432 million, of which $105 million is being dispersed to states as grants. New Mexico is getting $4 million of that, said Marina Piña, a spokesperson for the state Human Services Department.

The hotline directs people to a network of over 200 state and local call centers supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Linebrink-Allison said calls from the 505 and 575 area codes will be routed to the organization's call center in Albuquerque.

"I think that it is such an incredible opportunity for community members to be able to get to the right place at the right time," she said. "Many people experiencing mental health concerns call 911 because that's what they can remember at the moment."

The New Mexico Crisis and Access Line puts callers in touch with trained counselors and mental health professionals who can offer immediate support and connect people in crisis with more resources. Hotline workers start conversations with callers about getting them to a safer place, people around them who can help and coping techniques that can help get them past the crisis. In some cases, they may refer the caller to a counselor or connect them with a community-based mental health service.

Piña said the New Mexico Crisis and Access Line has been able to resolve 92 percent of crisis over the phone.

Said Linebrink-Allison: "I want to reinforce that just because you talk about suicide doesn't mean that somebody is going to be coming to your home as a result of the conversation. We try to find out what's going on that brought them to this place where they're feeling like that."

The improved hotline isn't the only proposal designed to reduce the number of suicides in New Mexico — Human Services has plans for mobile crisis teams that are able to go to people in crisis and offer assistance without the need for law enforcement. Currently, police need to call teams out, but Linebrink-Allison said workers for the New Mexico Crisis and Access Line will soon be able to dispatch teams themselves.

Within the next six months, Human Services will also launch four pilot Mobile Crisis Team sites in Rio Rancho, Carlsbad, Silver City and Las Cruces, in addition to the existing Crisis Triage Centers in the Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces.