City Cast DC: D.C.’s Suicide Lifeline Has One of the Nation’s Lowest Pickup Rates

Alyssa Fowers of City Cast DC reports on how chronic understaffing at DC’s Department of Behavioral Health has resulted in low pickup rates for 988 calls in the District. While calls that can’t be picked up locally are eventually rerouted to a national backup network, most callers hang up before reaching the national center. Additionally, non-local responders may be less knowledgeable about the resources available in DC that are most relevant to the caller’s needs.

“Maybe it is a situation where a mobile crisis unit might be the appropriate thing,” said Chris Gamble, a behavioral health policy analyst at the Children’s Law Center, a group that provides legal assistance to children in D.C. and advocates for policy changes, including in mental health programs. “Maybe even police might be deemed the appropriate thing. But if they’re [the crisis counselor] not here locally, how those connections are made is a big question mark.”

District residents can also reach out for mental health assistance through D.C.’s 24/7 Access Helpline, which connects residents to services in addition to taking crisis calls. But even there, residents may not find a long-term solution.

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Henderson hopes that consistent annual funding will improve matters at D.C.’s 988 program. The D.C. Council passed legislation this year to establish a 15-cent fee on phone lines, which will fund 988 and other crisis mental health services in the District.

“We really feel like having a dedicated funding stream can provide some consistency in terms of the resources necessary to make 988 live up to what everyone hoped it would be when it was first established,” said Henderson.

About a fifth of the money raised for the 988 fund will go to the crisis line. Most of the money will go to other mental health services, including a mobile crisis response unit for children and adolescents called CHAMPS.