Idaho
New Idaho suicide prevention number launches next week. Here’s how to call – East Idaho News
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Like 9-1-1 is used for police, hearth and medical emergencies, Idahoans experiencing behavioral well being crises quickly will be capable of name 9-8-8 to hunt assist.
In 2020, Congress handed the Nationwide Suicide Hotline Designation Act, creating a brand new nationwide behavioral well being disaster and suicide prevention dialing code. The brand new hotline, reached by dialing or texting 9-8-8, is scheduled to launch July 16.
“This can be a massive step ahead in our disaster response system within the state,” Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Division of Well being and Welfare, informed the Idaho Council on Indian Affairs on Wednesday.
At present, Idahoans searching for assist with a behavioral well being disaster can name the Idaho Disaster and Suicide Hotline at 800-273-8255. The brand new system will incorporate Idaho’s hotline, however “it’ll be a lot broader than that,” Jeppesen stated.
On the state degree, the 9-8-8 calls will probably be answered by native organizations that companion with the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline. That features the Idaho Disaster and Suicide Hotline, a program run by well being companies nonprofit Jannus.
In the meantime, the event of the brand new disaster line is a part of a broader effort on the Idaho Division of Well being and Welfare to increase psychological well being response companies.
Disaster response will embody deescalation over the cellphone but additionally cellular response groups that may join with a caller the place the disaster is going down and facilitate extra companies, Jeppesen stated. Whereas Idaho already has cellular response groups, the division will present statewide protection, he stated.
“Over time we’ll develop that cellular response functionality, so identical to you’d name and anticipate every other first responder, that we’d have a primary responder on the psychological well being facet that would reply to these emergencies,” Jeppesen stated.