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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 22 2020, @10:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the now-work-on-fixing-the-causes dept.

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:

Active and former US service members can:

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday July 23 2020, @01:50PM

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Thursday July 23 2020, @01:50PM (#1025387) Journal

    Why? Isn't it true?

    Not for everyone, it isn't.

    Some people are in situations where they truly have no hope of bettering their condition, smarmy platitudes aside.

    Some things, for some people, are only getting worse. Economically, socially, disease processes, relationships, etc.

    People value things differently. I favor this formulation:

    When considering a man's motives, remember you must not measure his wheat with your bushel. He may not be using the same standard at all.

    --Robin Hobb

    Nothing wrong with wanting to help someone; but there may, in fact, be something wrong with pushing "help" upon them if that's not what they actually want. That makes it not help at all.

    --
    I dream of a world where chickens can cross the
    road without having their motives questioned.

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