Two summers ago, the United States put a 24/7 suicide-prevention hotline into service. In Nebraska, calls made to 988 come through a system at Boys Town, which has been in operation for nearly two decades.
“We had the infrastructure, and they spent a lot of time working to hire up for that and to be able to have people available to answer calls,” said Jennifer Sparrock, psychiatric emergency services manager at Nebraska Medicine. “What I hear from other states, we are doing well.”
Nebraska scores high when it comes to answering rates, according to a June report released by mental health advocacy group Inseparable. But there is still room for improvement, the report said.
In Boys Town’s implementation plan, the goal was to answer 90% of calls in state. Nebraska is nearly there, fielding about 87%, according to the data.
But where Nebraska falls short is its available mobile response teams and stabilization resources.
Sparrock, whose job is to oversee incoming psychiatric patients on an emergency basis, said these elements are key in an emergency situation. At Nebraska Medicine, PES is a short-term stabilization point before someone is referred to inpatient or outpatient services.
“I think there's definitely a need for more, but I think there has to be dollars allocated for that,” Sparrock said. “And what are the things that we do to help people stay stable and have their needs met, so that they don't find themselves in crisis again?”
Amber Dirks, senior director of community response at CenterPointe, said emphasizing that this is a crisis line is a crucial part of early intervention.
“Crisis is defined by the individual. Crisis looks different for everybody,” Dirks said. “It's really just, in general, somebody to call when you're experiencing some sort of distress within your life, and you need some support.”
More than half of Nebraska’s communities don’t have enough mental health providers to meet needs set by federal guidelines, according to data from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, where Sparrock is also board chair.
That need can be exacerbated by living in a remote area, she said.
“I think that’s true in urban areas, but it’s especially true in our rural areas,” Sparrock said. “Accessibility is often a difficulty for folks.”
Tony Green, interim director for behavioral health at Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services, said DHHS is working to strengthen mobile response teams, short-term residential beds and receiving chairs for patients in a psychiatric emergency.
He said in the last year, there were more than 20,000 calls. He attributes this to increased outreach and marketing for the line.
“As the numbers increase, we're seeing a greater need of folks requesting that in-person response to their crisis,” Green said. "We are looking to work with our behavioral health partners across the state to increase those mobile crisis teams, as we also increase the marketing and the knowledge of 988.”
Pilot programs began in the city of Lincoln this spring, which connects 911 and 988. That means 911 operators can transfer a caller to 988, and vice versa.