Local crisis call center meets national standard for in-state answered calls

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)—Inseparable, a mental health advocacy group, shared a report showing how many 988 calls are answered in the state.

988 is the shortened number for the national suicide prevention hotline.

According to the report, Tennessee receives about 89% of its calls in-state. The other 11% are rolled over and answered by overflow call centers.

“We’ve gone up from low 70’s to 90%,” said Jennifer Armstrong, director of the Tennessee Crisis Services and Suicide Prevention Office. “So I think we’re in a really good place.”

According to Armstrong, Tennessee is hitting the national standard of 90%.

“This is something that’s nationally recognized as a benchmark and monitored,” Armstrong said. “I will say, Tennessee is in a great spot over the last several years.”

Frontier Health runs the local crisis center, which covers counties across Northeast Tennessee. According to Tifanny Hall, the call center coordinator, the center sees a similar rate of around 90%. When it comes to the other 10%, Hall said those calls are still answered, just not by the local hotline.

“If we can’t get to the call within a certain time frame, that call will roll to our backup call center,” said Hall. “And then, if for some reason they can’t get it, it will roll to a national backup call center. So a call may not get answered at our center or in the state, but someone is available to answer it.”

Armstrong said the percentage is taken from an average, due to a variety of factors that cause roll-over calls. She said calls come in at all times of the day and vary in length.

But Armstrong stresses that no call ever goes unanswered.

“There is an infrastructure in place that ensures that all calls are answered no matter what,” Armstrong said.

The hotline can be reached at any time by texting or calling 988, or chatting at 988lifeline.org.

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