The new mental health hotline is a key step, but it must be properly funded.

The new mental health hotline is a key step, but it must be properly funded.

Posted on January 10, 2022

In an opinion piece, NAMI CEO Daniel Gillison wrote: The pandemic has hit people hard — especially their mental health. As the CEO of the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, I know that we have to act urgently to avoid traumatic outcomes. Our failure to treat mental health crises leads to people cycling in and out of jails and emergency rooms, homelessness — or worse. The launch in July of 988, a new crisis hotline number, gives us a chance to put services into place that can help, but we have to act now. The NAMI HelpLine has experienced a 185% increase in calls related to suicide and a 251% increase in calls related to mental health crises compared with pre-pandemic times. After 20 months of COVID-19, there's never been a more critical time to invest in a new crisis response system.