
More than a year after its launch, public awareness of the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline remains moderate, a new survey found. However, awareness is highest among people who need it most — those in serious psychological distress. Survey participants with serious distress were 45% more likely to have heard of 988 than those with no distress. Further, those in moderate psychological distress were 27% more likely to have heard of 988 than those with no distress. “When we looked across these different psychological distress categories, as you would expect to see and hope to see, the percentage of people using the lifeline was way higher among those with serious psychological distress,” said lead researcher Jonathan Purtle. He is director of policy research at New York University’s Global Center for Implementation Science. The 988 line launched in July 2022, transitioning from the 10-digit 1-800 number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline into a simpler three-digit number with a broader focus on crisis counseling. To assess awareness of the line, researchers surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. adults in June 2023. “The key innovation of what we did here is we assessed people’s psychological distress,” Purtle said. “We were able to compare folks by their levels of distress and awareness of the lifeline.” Overall, about 42% of poll respondents had heard of the 988 lifeline, a… read on > read on >