CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Starting July 16, access to mental health resources is getting a little bit easier across the country and in the Carolinas.
The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will change to 988 on Saturday. It replaces the current number of 1-800-273-TALK. People can talk or text with a trained staff member 24/7.
"It's much easier to remember 988, in the same way that you know 911,” Deepa Avula, of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), said. “And so, it's just a matter of being able to easily remember a phone number that is three digits when you are stressed and in a state of feeling like you might be experiencing a mental health crisis."
Avula is the director of the NC DHHS division for mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services.
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Avula said the lifeline saw an increase in call volume last year with about 36,000 calls statewide.
"What the pandemic did is it exacerbated these illnesses for many,” Avula said. “So, increases in unemployment, increases in financial instability, fear, loss, grief, anxiety, trauma."
The mental health of America’s youth was a concern even before the pandemic.
"Many of us would say we were in a pediatric mental health crisis, and then the pandemic onset,” Dr. Nathan Copeland, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Duke University, said.
Copeland said the pandemic only added to the challenges with increased isolation, loneliness, parental distress, and substance use disorders.
The number of mental health-related emergency department visits for suicide in early 2021 among teens ages 12-to-17 increased by 31% compared to the same period in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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"It's been about a 15-fold increase of children, young adults coming to our hospital because of such serious suicide attempts,” Dr. Gary Maslow, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Duke University, said. “It's unlike anything I've experienced in doing this for 20 years, and that's the tip of the iceberg."
State health leaders are expecting the call volume of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to increase as the number changes to 988 and help is now just three numbers away.
"Reaching out for help is not a sign of weakness,” Avula said. “It is, in fact, a sign of strength."
Contact Kendall Morris at kmorris2@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.