988 suicide prevention line see increased use despite cuts to funding, services

WISCONSIN – Although 988 is the national suicide prevention hotline, Wisconsin callers in crisis have their calls answered locally by counselors based out of the Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin building in Green Bay.

Four years ago this month, the three-digit number was established, providing a more easily accessible option for those in crisis to get the help they need.

“We’ve long had, in the United States, a suicide prevention hotline. Prior to 988, it was a 10-digit number and nobody remembered it,” U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin said at a roundtable discussion following a tour of the Green Bay facility.

“When I was in middle school, we had maybe a guest speaker in to talk about mental health and they mentioned the fact that there was a suicide prevention hotline and maybe even handed out cards or something…” Baldwin recalled. “Not very long after that, I was over at a friend’s house and her mother was in a moment of crisis and it was very apparent, even though we were kids and playing, that there was a crisis going on… I remembered what I had learned in school, and back then we had phone books… I was looking and there I found the ten-digit number and we got my friend’s mother on the line with a counselor and she got the help and intervention that she needed.”

In 2022, the suicide prevention line was changed from a ten-digit number to 988.

“I knew that something people could remember would get people in touch with help, and so I joined one of my republican colleagues in the senate in authoring legislation to create the 988 number,” Baldwin said.

Since 988 was launched in July of 2022, more than 20 million contacts have been made, ranging from those just needing a space to talk to those actively attempting to take their own lives.

“We’re receiving them at their lowest and their most vulnerable…” said Sawyer Hobson, one of Wisconsin’s 988 Lifeline counselors. “Some conversations last five minutes but they just needed to talk to someone. We get people who have lost their spouses and they’re grieving and they just want to talk about their day. And then we do have calls where we need to locate and ask for a welfare check because it is an active attempt.”

Hobson said most often, though, callers just need some time and space to talk, estimating that less than 1% of calls result in a welfare check.

“I may take 11 to 15 to 20 calls a night, depending on the length of calls and the busyness of the incoming calls and maybe one, two, maybe three I will pass off for a two-on-one or contact to local crisis,” Hobson said.

The implementation of 988 also helps ease the load of 911 call centers.

“Our dispatchers take about 100 phone calls a shift, so while we’re prepared to speak with people who are in crisis, we can’t give them that time and space like a counselor can,” said Kati Stahmann, director of communication for the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office. “If someone is in crisis but is not currently a danger — doesn’t have a method in mind and doesn’t have the means with them — we’re happy to make that transfer to either 988 or our local crisis… We want to make sure they have the resources they’re looking for.”

As the school year has ended and support students and families may have been receiving at school are on hold for the summer, Jacci Preuss, 988 training supervisor for Family Services of NEW, said the call center has seen a rise in the amount of calls it receives.

“If you could draw a line across this table, we’re really a web. We all take times where we catch families and work together to try to help them…” said Crystal Dubey, a social worker in the Green Bay Area Public School District. “Having those specialized services, that’s something that is out there to catch youth and parents when others aren’t available to.”

Also contributing to recent increases in calls is rising worries about finances.

“We have people on fixed incomes who can’t keep up with inflation…” said Brian Binder, program specialist at the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County. “They’re making difficult choices. Some people, due to mobility, they could really benefit from outside services, whether it be a cleaning person or transportation services, but they can’t afford it because they’ve got to pay their rent.”

“I oftentimes have families choosing between paying rent and putting food on the table,” Dubey said.

When 988 was established, appropriations were elevated and specialized services were established for high-risk groups, including veterans and LGBTQ+ youth.

“We understood that it was going to get more phone calls, because people would know about it…” Baldwin said. “We knew we needed to put more resources into mental health services so that when people reach out — phone call, text or chat — they’d have the referrals and the help they need. The last thing you want is those calls not getting answered promptly. So we did that. We elevated some of the appropriations to make sure that there were services to back this up.”

But recently, funding and specialized services for the 988 line have been threatened.

“The Trump administration came in and has asked for cuts in mental health and SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), which is the agency that funds mental health — significant cuts,” Baldwin said. “And last year, they abruptly announced an end to the ‘press three’ option that provides specialized services to LGBTQ+ youth.”

The 988 lifeline is often the first step in a long journey for those seeking help with their mental health, Hobson said, and removing specialized services and cutting funding to resources can lead to increased feelings of isolation.

“988 is just one step in the process of a very long journey they have…” Hobson said. “We play a small part in giving them time and space to breathe and meeting them in their current situation and giving them that time to say, ‘It’s okay to not be okay. Let me help you not stay that way, though.’ It’s linking up with maybe the sheriff’s office or the crisis centers and getting them physical contact. If we take away those resources, where does that leave the help seekers? It leaves them even more isolated.”

While a new study found that since the launch of the three-digit crisis line, youth suicide deaths dropped 11% below projections, the removal of the ‘press three’ option also has parents feeling worried.

“With the change in administration, I haven’t just had students in my office that are fearful,” said Dubey. “I’ve had parents practically on my knees begging me for help. ‘What do I do? How do I protect my child? How do I make them feel safe?’... I don’t always have all the answers, but I’m there and I’m listening and giving them resources and I personally have handed out 988 cards to families because I’m not there all the time.”

Although legislation has been passed to restore the “press three” option for the 988 line, the service has yet to be restored.

“When we wrote the bill funding the government for the fiscal year that we’re in right now, fiscal year 2026, we demanded that the ‘press three’ option be restored,” Baldwin said. “President Trump signed that into law. And now we are very frustrated with the pace in which they’re restoring services.”