Courtesy-988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline FB page
INDIANAPOLIS – The relaunching and rebranding of the nationwide suicide prevention line as 988 — designed to be a mental health counterpart to 911 emergency services — arrived amid a year of record-high suicide deaths, according to provisional federal data.
In 2022, 49,369 lives were lost to suicide, with the highest number of gun-related suicides on record nationwide. Indiana hasn’t been immune to this increase, according to the health care policy organization KFF. Between 2011 and 2021, the age-adjusted suicide death rate per 100,000 residents jumped 22% in the Hoosier State, from 13.5 deaths to 16.4 deaths.
At the same time, Indiana reported one of the highest in-state response rates for calls to 988, meaning that Hoosiers in crisis were more likely to connect with a local counselor than their peers in other states.
“The state is using this as an opportunity to build an infrastructure that will change the way Hoosiers access behavioral health and crisis care, with a goal of building a system that can prevent and respond to mental health crises through the expansion of pilot programs to demonstrate their efficacy and cost-effectiveness,” said Michele Holtkamp, director of the Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs at the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.
But challenges remain for an overburdened mental health care system, especially since lawmakers opted not to create a steady, ongoing funding stream in the form of telecom fees.
On ongoing crisis
The number of deaths due to suicide dipped slightly in 2019 and 2020 on a national scale before rebounding in 2021 and hitting a record high in 2022, according to an analysis from KFF of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER data.
See the full story here.
