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WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration to get a "988" national suicide prevention lifeline up and running by July, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Monday.

"The importance of our work to launch the '988' lifeline cannot be overstated," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said on a phone call with reporters. "Every 11 minutes an American dies from suicide. Too many Americans are experiencing mental health crises without the support and care they need. In 2019 alone, suicide was the second leading cause of death among young people and was the 10th leading cause of death in the nation. One of every 20 Americans [ages] 18 and older had serious thoughts of suicide, and one in 200 attempted it."

"Once implemented, 988 will be the best way to connect those who are experiencing deep emotional distress or suicidal crisis to meaningful, compassionate, accessible care and support," he continued. "Just as '911' is easy to remember and is our go-to in an emergency, 988 should become the lifeline when we need help for a mental crisis."

Of the money being spent, "that includes $177 million to strengthen and expand the existing lifeline network operations and telephone infrastructure across the nation, including centralized chat, text response, backup center capacity, and special services," Becerra said, noting that the funding total comes from the administration's fiscal year 2022 budget and from the American Rescue Plan.

"It also means $105 million to build up staffing across state and local crisis call centers," he continued. "We're making an investment today to partner with states and territories and work together towards the vision of a national three-digit helpline. If we do this right, and if we do it together, as a team, 988 will become a true lifeline." He reminded people that if they need help now, they can call the current 10-digit lifeline number, 800-273-8255; that number will continue to work even after 988 goes live. And although the 988 number will work nationwide, calls will be routed to responders in the caller's local area, according to a spokesperson for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, PhD, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic "only added to the growing mental health crisis facing our nation ... Too many Americans are experiencing suicide and mental health crises without the support and the care that they need."

In 2019 alone, "the U.S. saw one suicide death every 11 minutes," she added.

"However, there is hope; SAMHSA's investment into behavioral health infrastructure is a step in the right direction. We know that providing 24/7 free and confidential support to people in suicide crisis or emotional distress works," Delphin-Rittmon said. "In fact, the lifeline currently helps thousands of people overcome crisis situations every day. Moving to an easy-to-remember three-digit dialing format will provide greater access."

During a question-and-answer session, Delphin-Rittmon was asked why so much time was needed before 988 could go live.

"The timing in part is to give a safe time to staff up, to shore up, and to scale up," she said. "So the $105 million will be used to help further staff up the crisis call centers. Currently many of these centers are underfunded, quite frankly, and so the funding will be used to allow the centers to hire additional staff, but then also to train those additional staff. This will require state, local, and federal partnerships."

She also was asked how uninsured people who called the lifeline would be able to access the services that would be recommended.

"For many states, if a person called the lifeline and the mobile crisis team needs to be deployed, the person may then be connected to any of the various community mental health centers," said Delphin-Rittmon. "And for many of those, it's about service first. They take Medicaid, and they're also able to help connect people to insurance if they don't have insurance."

Of course, if patients need an emergency department first, then they can be taken to the emergency department as well, she added.

Becerra was asked how services like this will be affected now that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) has the Build Back Better bill, which contains some mental health-related provisions.

"We're going to continue to do all the preparation we can in the event that Build Back Better becomes law," he said. "For HHS, the Build Back Better agenda is crucial for the subject that we're discussing today: helping Americans address emotional distress and mental health crises. It will be indispensable in order for us to really be able to reach some of those people in America who've been left behind."

"Too often, mental health has been the stepchild to physical health [when it comes to] provision of services," Becerra added. "We're going to do everything we can to change that. The more we have the resources and the program authority to go forward, we'll be able to help Americans get back to their life and to their work. So we're going to move forward and we'll see where we end up."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

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