'Keeping That Person Alive Another Day': 211 Palm Beach Sees Uptick in Mental Health Calls

Описание: The 211 Palm Beach and Treasure Coast helpline answers more than 100,000 calls from people in crisis every year.

“The majority of our call volume historically has been with what we would call helpline calls so people are struggling to make rent. People are struggling to pay their light bill," Sharon L’Herrou, President and CEO of 211 Palm Beach and Treasure Coast, said.

988 is now the easy-to-remember number for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, replacing the old 10-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Line in July of 2022. The Lifeline is supported by SAMHSA and run by Vibrant Emotional Health.

When you call, text, or chat with 988, you'll talk to trained crisis counselors from over 200 local crisis centers, including 211 PB & TC. Experts there say since the launch of 988, the bulk of the calls have changed from people struggling with basic needs to people struggling with mental crises.
“Now a bigger number of calls every day are also these really serious potentially life-threatening calls, and those calls, it's all hands on deck and making sure that everyone is focused on keeping that person alive for another day,” L’Herrou said.
Officials said they've seen a roughly 30% increase in calls this year, with an average of 200 to 300 more monthly calls coming in on the 988 line.
Data released by the suicide and crisis lifeline shows more than 14,000 calls were made to 988 in Florida just last month.

“The calls coming in on the suicide prevention line 988 are more complicated. Obviously, a higher level of crisis requires a lot more staff time, a lot more staff judgment, it's frankly more draining on the team,” L’Herrou said.

The 211 helpline center is currently training a group of new experts to join the team and help with the influx. According to L’Herrou, the addition of more staff members will lead to reduced waiting times for incoming callers. Their goal is to respond to crisis calls within a timeframe of 30 seconds.

When a call isn't picked up within a certain amount of time, it's rerouted to an out-of-state center. No call ever truly goes unanswered.

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