In Kenai, throughout Alaska and everywhere else across the country, callers looking to reach the National Suicide Prevention Line now just have to dial three digits: 9-8-8.
The new national Suicide and Crisis Hotline officially went live on Saturday, July 16. Modeled after 9-1-1, the new number is intended to be an easier and more memorable way to reach local mental health professionals in a moment of crisis than a local 7-digit line.
Efforts to roll out 988 in Alaska began in 2021, according to the Alaska Department of Health. Since Saturday, anyone in the nation has been able to call the number and be connected with local call centers, depending on their area code.
In Alaska, anyone with a 907 number who calls will be put in contact with a trained mental health professional from Careline Alaska, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 988 also handles texts and chats, in addition to calls.
Shari Conner is the project coordinator at Change 4 the Kenai, a local coalition dedicated to substance abuse prevention.
She’s looking forward both to how the new hotline might streamline services and how it could change broader perceptions about seeking help for mental health.
She said the 988 number reduces the stigma by putting resources on the same plane as those who’ve had, for example, a car accident.
“I think It shows the people that are really struggling that they matter as well,” Conner said.
Conner also helps oversee local programming for Sources of Strength, a suicide and substance abuse prevention program for schools that uses positivity and peer connection to reduce the likelihood of suicide among kids. The Sources of Strength program began in Kenai schools in 2016 to combat suicide in a time when Alaska’s suicide rate was reaching a 20-year high. Alaska continues to have among the highest per-capita suicide rates in the nation, according to the Department of Health.
Conner said for young people on the peninsula, there are a couple benefits of the streamlined suicide hotline.
The first is the 24-hour text and chat feature, which she said will reach a demographic that’s just not used to talking on the phone.
“This is bringing it up to a national text line, which is fabulous because a lot of our youth are used to only texting, and find talking on the phone not as favorable,” Conner said.
She also said she’s grateful the text feature provides anonymity, so people in crisis are less fearful about reaching out for help. She thinks this feature will open the service to a whole new group of people who have previously been nervous to access the hotline.
The other benefit Conner sees is the standardization of the phone number. She said the variety of local mental health crisis lines make it difficult for people to find services, especially if they move around a lot or are younger. Plus, she said the maze of current phone lines for different types of crises and services can also be difficult to parse through. Now, there’s just one number to memorize for any type of mental health crisis.
And she said the three-digit number will also help raise a new generation of children who see mental health services as a widespread and necessary resource.
“It’s just like thinking, right now if you were in a car accident, you had to call one local number, but if your house burned down and you had to learn another number, and on and on, it would be very difficult to actually receive emergency services when you needed it,” Conner said. “This is going to also teach an entire new generation that mental health issues, and behavior health issues, are just as important, and there's just one number that you call for services.”
Conner also hopes the 988 number may reduce some pressure on local services by helping connect people with the resources they need without needing to call around at different local numbers. She said long waits for counselors and acute mental health care facilities have made accessing mental health care difficult on the Kenai Peninsula, and she can foresee improvements in the local community driven by a desire for better systems.
