By Alessandra Suuberg, Decency LLC
In 2020, Congress passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, creating a new, nationwide ‘988’ telephone number for suicide prevention and mental health crises.
The new number replaced the former ten-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) number (1-800-273-TALK) last month.
One of the reported reasons for designating a specific, 24/7 behavioral health emergency number was “to move mental health calls from 911 . . . to compassionate mental health professionals.”
Reading the 988 news as a former crisis line volunteer and employee, I was curious about the impact that this roll-out would have on practices and policies at local crisis centers.
In particular, taking calls on similar lines for a number of years, I had become familiar with the various confidentiality (or privacy) questions that arise periodically with respect to these services.
Readers with similar questions can find various 988 confidentiality FAQs answered at https://988lifeline.org/faq/, which addresses, e.g., the service’s geolocation capabilities, whether the service uses call tracing or police intervention, and how it defines “confidential” with respect to calls.
The question of 988 caller privacy was also addressed in a January 2022 piece from Mad in America, which consulted attorneys from the ACLU and EPIC, weighing in on the implications should more advanced location technologies become part of the service.
For now, the 988 number is new, and much remains to be seen as vision translates to practice. Hopefully callers find this development to be optimally helpful.
Disclaimer: The information and opinions on this site do not include legal advice or the advice of a licensed healthcare provider.