Tennessee answers 89% of 988 calls in-state, advocates say more investments needed

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A new report from the mental health advocacy organization, Inseparable , found Tennessee has a strong response rate to calls into the 988 suicide and mental crisis hotline, 988, but according to advocates, more improvements can be made.

According to Inseparable’s report, Tennessee call centers answered 89% of calls into 988 in-state, while the rest were answered by overflow call centers.

“In July of 2021, Tennessee actually had a 74% in-state answer rate. Today, 89%. That’s a huge increase within the state,” Angela Kimball, chief advocacy officer for Inseparable said. “That’s really commendable and it means that there’s more capacity in a time where there’s been growing demand.”

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While Tennessee has made strong strides, the report also highlights the need for other mental health services. Inseparable used the state’s population and other factors to calculate Tennessee’s estimated need for 53 total mental health mobile response teams, 372 24-hour crisis receiving chairs, and 317 short-term crisis residential beds.

Elliot Pinsly, president and CEO of the Behavioral Health Foundation in Tennessee told News 2 the state has all three of those services in place, however, the TN Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services hasn’t publicly released the exact number and more improvements can be made.

“We have one-person mobile crisis teams in Tennessee,” Pinsly said. “When we send out a single person it’s very difficult to expect that that person is going to enter the home and assess somebody who is in a crisis without first having to call say law enforcement to check out the scene first. That’s not exactly what we want. We typically want to avoid unnecessary law enforcement interactions when we’re talking about someone who has mental health needs.”

Pinsly pointed out the state’s investments in nine crisis stabilization units where people can go for a few days to get connected with mental health care. Three additional crisis stabilization units are set to open in Tennessee.

“To the state’s credit, they have put their money where their mouth is in a big way and have added more funding for mental health crisis services,” Pinsly said. “There can be a lot more investments to really make things better for folks.”

Kimball told News 2 Tennessee can generate more funding for mental health services by enacting a state law implementing a 988 fee for cell phone users in the state similar to how 911 call centers are funded. According to the report, charging a 98-cent fee could generate an additional $6.8 million annually for Tennessee.

Some Democratic lawmakers previously sponsored a bill that would have enacted a 988 fee, but it quickly died.

Kimball said while Tennessee state agencies, including the Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, have launched programs improving mental health services, the state hasn’t passed many laws codifying these services.

“This isn’t to say Tennessee hasn’t done the work. Rather it hasn’t been enshrined in statute. The danger is those great gains could go away as people leave state agencies, as people retire and move on,” Kimball said.

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She added the main goal of Inseparable’s report was to encourage lawmakers to start a conversation about how to improve mental health services in the state.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a prevention network of 161 crisis centers that provides a 24/7, toll-free hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

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