Statewide, Iowa — The 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launched in the middle of July and the volume of calls and texts from Iowans seeking assistance has grown significantly.
Peggy Huppert is executive director of the Iowa chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Two Iowa providers that had been handling calls and texts to a suicide prevention hotline began getting 988 contacts when the national number launched July 16th. Since then, the text service reports more than 535 Iowans have chatted via text with a counselor. According to the contractor handling phone calls, 56 of the people who dialed 988 from Iowa in July were at high risk of suicide.
Huppert says 911 operators are trained to dispatch emergency personnel, while the staff on the 988 system are trained to provide counseling and assess what services the person may need.
In the month of July, 988 counselors who received calls referred 325 Iowans to other mental health providers.
Huppert says Iowa was better positioned than other states for the national launch of 988 service because CommUnity Crisis Services in Iowa City and Foundation 2 Crisis Services in Cedar Rapids had been handling suicide prevention hotline texts and phone calls.
