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FCC Approves 988 as Suicide Prevention, Mental Health Crisis Number:
Yesterday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously approved [(pdf)] 988 as a nationwide, three-digit phone number that people in crisis can call to speak with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors. All phone service providers are required to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK) by July 16, 2022. This includes all telecommunications carriers and interconnected and one-way Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will remain operational during and after the two-year transition to 988.
During the transition to 988, Americans who need help should continue to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK) and through online chats. Veterans and service members may reach the Veterans Crisis Line by pressing 1 after dialing, chatting online at http://www.veteranscrisisline.net, or texting 838255. A transcript of the vote is posted here.
Activation of new 988 number will take a while. In the meantime, try calling "911" or:
- Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at: 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK)
- Online chat with National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Active and former US service members can:
- Call the above phone number and then press "1",
- Chat at http://www.veteranscrisisline.net
- Send a text to 838255.
If nothing else, talk to somebody. It's really important to remember that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary situation. Help is available; ask for it and don't give up.
NOTE: The above are US-centric. For those who are aware of resources in other countries, please mention them in the comments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 23 2020, @01:41PM
I am happy to hear you did not give up and that things are better for you now.
I, too, suffered from clinical major depression after my mom died.
(NOTE: My depression was nothing like having a 'bad day' or 'being down'. More like a total lack of anything that can bring any pleasure. Everything felt dark. Hopeless. Overwhelming. Couldn't see things ever getting better. Just living the rest of my life in perpetual pain and agony and darkness.)
My mom suddenly took ill and was rushed to the hospital. Put on a respirator. Got yo-yo'd between the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and the CCU (Critical Care Unit). That's for people who are even worse off and need closer monitoring and support than what the ICU could provide. Was the first I knew there even was such a thing. They finally got her stabilized and then performed an operation to help rectify an underlying condition. Unfortunately, the prior two weeks took too much of a toll and they were unable to stabilize her condition afterwards. Various systems were shutting down -- liver, kidneys, etc. It was just a matter of time. We had a family meeting and made the heart-breaking decision to remove life support.
She was the one person I could talk to about almost anything. She was gentle and not judgemental. Full of encouragement and patience. And suddenly gone. It rocked my world like nothing I'd been through before. I was astonished at how many reminders came up each day. A favorite song on the radio. Flowers in the yard. Doing crossword puzzles. Taking a ride in the car. We had done so much together and now she was gone.
I understood, intellectually, that this was to be expected. Unfortunately, it coincided with the dot-com bubble bursting in the early 2000s and I had recently been laid off. Unemployment rate soared. More and more companies were doing layoffs and filing for bankruptcy. Any hope for a new job turned to despair.
I contemplated suicide. Anything I could think of that was sure to work would leave a messy corpse. I could not bear the thought of my family having to deal with that. Knowing my luck, anything else I'd try, I'd probably survive and just end up in a worse situation than I was already in.
An acquaintance noticed something was up and advocated for me. Got me professional help. Medication and therapy helped. I learned coping skills like CBT and DBT. Slowly, I was able to escape the depths of that abyss.
A turning point for me came when I stopped and asked myself why I felt so sad. Others had survived the loss of loved ones... what was my problem? It suddenly came to me:
If she'd been a pain-in-the-ass, I might even have been glad she was gone. I'd known others who had been down that path.
Then I remembered times I'd read the obituaries. Of someone passing away. Leaving behind a loving family. Upstanding member of the community. But, I didn't know that person. Intellectually, I knew others felt a great loss. But not me. This time, with my own mother, I was finally able to realize how I'd been truly fortunate... and I had never realized how much. I never wanted it to end. But we all die, eventually. So, it became my personal mantra. Whenever I felt pain and sadness, I tried to look past the feeling of loss and focus on being grateful that I had such a special person in my life.
I eventually got a job in an entirely different field. I was now working with the general public. Every few weeks I'd meet someone who was grieving for the loss of a loved one. I shared my story. They quickly realized I'd been where they were. That I knew how they felt. By sharing my own experience, I was able to give them hope. They could see I'd been there and was not there any more. I could help people in a way I never could have before.
My pain had become my strength.
An example: There was one co-worker I'd gotten to know pretty well. Had some open conversations over the years. One day she came to me in tears. Her mom passed away suddenly. She knew about my mom's passing and my struggles with it. She knew I would understand. I told her that, some day, someone would come to her just like how she had some to me. That she, too, would be able to draw on her experience to help someone else. She was skeptical, but had come to know I was honest and sincere. We had a few chats over the following months where I'd ask how she was doing and again offer a shoulder to cry on. A couple years later she came to me literally beaming. She had a friend who had just lost a parent. Drawing on her own experience, she was able to offer hope to her friend. Just like how I had helped her. No longer skeptical, she had experienced how her one-time pain was able to help someone else... in a way she never could have before.
I've had major, life-threatening illnesses since then. I no longer fear death. When my time comes, I am ready to go. But, I no longer wish to speed things along. So, if you are struggling, please hang in there and don't give up!