Two years in, 988 has answered 10 million calls, texts and chats

The national suicide hotline has fielded over 10 million calls, texts and chats in the two years since the Biden administration changed the number from 10 digits to the three that make up 988, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Tuesday.

Out of those contacts, 1.7 million were text messages with 988 answering 51 percent more texts in the past year than the year before, according to HHS.  

The designated line for veterans — called the Veterans Crisis Line — received 1.2 million of those 988 calls.

988 has also answered roughly 20,000 chats and texts in Spanish, 20,000 videophone calls in American Sign Language (ASL) and over 475,000 calls, texts and chats from LGBTQ Americans since last year, as well, according to HHS.

That data follows the additions last year of a Spanish language text and chat option, videophone option for ASL users and a separate option for LGBTQ youth to connect with a counselor who understands the challenges people in the queer community face, according to the agency.

Federal officials touted the data on the hotline's contacts, but most Americans don't know what 988 is or what services it provides, according to a recently published poll.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are relying on 988 each month and are being connected to mental health and substance abuse-related resources,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden during a media call Tuesday.  “Make no mistake, 988 saves lives.” 

While 67 percent of Americans surveyed said they had heard of 988 in June 2024, only 23 percent of respondents said they were at least somewhat familiar with it, a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-Ipsos poll published Monday found.

Just three percent of respondents said they or a loved one had contacted 988 while they were experiencing a mental health, substance use or suicide crisis.

Black Americans surveyed were the most likely to say they had contacted the 988 hotline — with 6 percent reporting they used the line during a mental health, substance use or suicide crisis.

That's compared to 5 percent of Hispanic respondents, 5 percent of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) respondents and two percent of white respondents who reported the same.  

The NAMI-Ipsos poll was conducted June 7-9, 2024. The poll has a 95 percent confidence level for all respondents and a 2.2 percentage point margin of error. There were 2,048 American respondents 18 years or older.

Senior administration officials on the media call said educating Americans about the existence of 988 remains a “very high priority” and mentioned a new marketing campaign for the line rolled out last month.  

“We also have invested in what we call formative research to really understand how to make awareness be improved for targeted audiences,” one senior administration official said. “When I say targeted audiences, I am talking about communities that the data does show us are at high risk of potential suicide, high risk for depression or other risk factors that we do things that we are wanting to avoid.”