Trump Admin to Revamp Suicide Prevention Hotline

The Trump administration is in preparation to revamp theNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

According to The Washington Free Beacon:

Administration leaders are moving to curb the nation’s exploding suicide crisis through a new, three-digit number to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

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Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai expects to designate 988 as a special code to connect people quickly and easily to the lifeline, he told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview—a response to the two-decade surge in suicide deaths that Pai called “stunning” and “epidemic.”

The change will be voted on by the full FCC at its July 16 open meeting and is expected to pass unanimously, one FCC staffer told the Free Beacon. The new code will easily direct callers to the 10-digit line currently operated by a network of publicly funded crisis centers that provide immediate counseling, mental health referrals, and emergency services to people contemplating suicide.

A suicide hotline short code, under consideration for two years, has been widely supported by suicide experts—and has grown increasingly salient as the coronavirus crisis has driven up calls for help. At the same time, those same experts have cautioned that expanded accessibility of the already overtaxed crisis hotline must be paired with more funding—Dr. Bart Andrews, a board member at the American Association of Suicidology, told the Free Beacon that current funding levels are “completely insufficient to meet the need that 988 will create.”

While this is a mandate it is also stated that it is in response to the nationwide rise in suicides.