����������

���������� Note: Last week, NYS Senator Samra Brouk (SD-55) introduced landmark legislation that would establish the three-digit, 9-8-8 national suicide prevention hotline number that individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, or their loved ones, could call or text to be connected to trained mental health counselors. The shortened, three-digit number will be easier to remember and allow more people to get help when it is needed. The counselors staffing the 9-8-8 crisis hotline centers will be trained to respond to mental health emergencies and could coordinate with 9-8-8 operators to deploy mobile crisis teams to individuals in need. These support teams are staffed by mental health professionals, peers, and family advocates instead of police officers, whose response to mental health crises in the 55th District and across the country has resulted in unnecessary violence and death. Furthermore, S6194 would mandate that calls to 9-1-1 reporting a mental health crisis would be transferred to 9-8-8, and operators monitoring both lines would be able to coordinate a law enforcement, fire, or medical response if needed.

This bill has also been introduced into the ���������� State Assembly as Assembly Bill A7177 by Assemblymember Aileen Gunther, Chair of the Assembly Mental Health Committee.

���������� extends our great thanks to Senator Brouk for her strong leadership in guiding ���������� to take necessary steps to launch a new crisis system that will connect people to the right kind of support when they need it most, saving countless lives in the process.

���������� State Mental Health Crisis Legislation Introduced
  Mental Health Weekly  May 1, 2021

Six months following the designation of 988 as a universal number for a national suicide hotline commencing next summer, ���������� state lawmakers have introduced a bill establishing a mental health crisis hotline system allowing for crisis intervention and crisis care coordination.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules establishing 988 as the new, nationwide three‐digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors. The rules require all phone service providers to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1‐800‐273‐TALK, or 1‐800‐273‐8255) by July 16, 2022 (see MHW, July 24, 2020).

The bipartisan National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Oct. 17. The new number is expected to be active by July 2022 (see MHW, Oct. 23, 2020).

Sen. Samra Brouk (SD‐55) on April 27 introduced ���������� State Senate Bill S6194. The 988 suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline also provides mobile crisis teams and imposes fees on mobile services or IP‐enabled voice services. Assembly Member Aileen Gunther (AD‐100) introduced a similar bill, A7177, joining Sens. Brouk and mental health advocates across the state in its introduction during a press conference last week.

To date, 20 states have introduced 988 legislation. Utah and Virginia have passed bills related to the easy‐to‐remember hotline number.

provisions
The counselors staffing the 988 crisis hotline centers will be trained to respond to mental health emergencies and could coordinate with 988 operators to deploy mobile crisis teams to individuals in need, according to a news release from Brouk’s office. These support teams are staffed by mental health professionals, peers and family advocates instead of police officers, whose response to mental health crises in the 55th District and across the country has resulted in unnecessary violence and death, the news release stated.

Furthermore, S6194 would mandate that calls to 911 reporting a mental health crisis would be transferred to 988, and operators monitoring both lines would be able to coordinate a law enforcement, fire or medical response if needed.

“From the provider side, we’re advocating and pushing to get it passed,” Jenna Velez, vice president of external affairs for the Mental Health Association of Westchester, told MHW. “This is really important legislation. There will have to be staffing.”

Velez said the bill will make it easier for people to remember the crisis hotline number. “If someone is experiencing a suicidal crisis, it’s so much harder to organize your thoughts,” she said. “When someone calls 911, it typically leads to police involvement.”

The crisis hotline will allow the right professionals to be available for someone to talk to, noted Velez. “It will allow it to be easier for people to get help when it’s needed,” she said.

“The implementation of 988 means that people in mental health crisis will get a mental health rather than a police first response that currently follows a 911 call,” Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the ���������� Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, told MHW. “This approach will hopefully de‐escalate crises rather than leading to avoidable arrests and too often fatal encounters.”

Rosenthal added, “If phone‐based crisis support is insufficient, we hope that people will be hooked up with a mental health service response, either mobile crisis teams or hopefully teams of peers and emergency medical technicians who can come to see that individual if desired.”

A significant amount of federal dollars is coming to states and counties, with an emphasis on funding for crisis and criminal justice diversion services, Rosenthal noted.

“We are hoping that this funding can be used in part to jump‐start 988 systems and grow mental health rather than police first responder programs, including crisis stabilization, respite and Living Room alternative emergency room services,” he said.

One example of a Living Room program is in the form of an initiative offered by Chicago‐based Rincon Family Services. Its Living Room initiative is a community respite program that offers an alternative to emergency departments for people experiencing an emotional crisis.

Meanwhile, the Mental Health Association of Westchester’s Velez says she is hopeful the ���������� state 988 legislation will pass, especially given bipartisan support for the federal bill that became law last year. “This could be a step‐off point to shift mental health response to crisis to people who are trained [to do that],” she said.