CT suicide hotline’s successes celebrated after 2 years in service

Connecticut officials applauded the two-year anniversary of the 988 suicide and crisis prevention hotline on Tuesday, even as the rising number of calls to the line points to a mental health crisis that has swept the country post-COVID.

Since the line was introduced in 2022, the state has seen consistent increases in call volume, with a 32% increase in fiscal year 2024.

At Connecticut’s United Way headquarters, where the calls are routed, 30 new staffers were added. Staff can take calls at any time — day or night — 365 days a year.

The line was created to streamline the process of seeking and receiving help for people with suicidal thoughts or going through a mental health crisis. Back in 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill to create the 988 number, which launched in July 2022 under President Joe Biden. With the line came a massive infusion of federal and state funding to more quickly respond to calls.

For decades, the United Way had done its best to field these calls, some of which came through previously established national 1-800 numbers, or via the 2-1-1 helpline.

Response times often lagged, with people looking for urgent support waiting on hold, or simply giving up. But the 988 line has a rigorous standard for how speedily calls must be picked up: 95% of calls have to be answered in 15 seconds. Connecticut has consistently outdone even that high bar, with 96% of calls answered in 5 seconds — virtually as soon as the call is routed.

And the line doesn’t just talk people through a crisis — it can also connect them to mobile mental health crisis teams.

“That’s a unique feature of the Connecticut system,” said Tanya Barrett of the United Way, who has been in charge of the effort. Those crisis teams can go to adults or children to connect them with resources they might need in the short or long term. Officials say that around 20% of calls to the 988 line receive help from a mobile crisis team.

Ann Dagle, who lost her son Brian to suicide, spoke on Tuesday about how she believes such a number might have impacted her own family.

“Back then, 12 plus years ago, of course we didn’t have 988,” Dagle said. “We didn’t talk about mental health, and of course we did not talk about suicide.”

Today, the 988 number must appear on the back of high school ID cards, and Dagle is advocating for its inclusion on college IDs as well. Brian was a college sophomore when he died.

“I really have to think: if that number was on the back of my son’s college ID, perhaps my life would be a lot different.”