Will adding mental health counselor at South Sound 911 center help those in crisis?
South Sound 911 has launched a new mental health-support pilot program in Pierce County.
South Sound 911 is working in partnership with Volunteers of America to bring trained 9-8-8, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, counselors to the 911 center in Tacoma. The counselors will provide emotional support, crisis counseling and access to essential resources, according to a South Sound 911 news release.
“By integrating on-site 988 counselors, we are transforming how we support individuals in mental health crises, ensuring they receive immediate care from trained professionals,” South Sound 911 executive director Deborah Grady said in the press release. “Not only does this program reflect our dedication to our community’s well-being, it also helps us keep 911 lines available for emergencies and better positioned to accomplish our goal of providing the highest level of service for our community.”
988 was established as the universal telephone line to access the National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis hotline in the United States in 2020.
“The 988 number was decided upon as an easy way for people to call and remember a suicide and mental health crisis in particular because 911 has been so successful, people know to call 911 during an emergency,” Grady said.
South Sound 911 is a call center that answers and dispatches for 38 police and fire agencies in Pierce County.
The pilot program will be funded using money from the Statewide 988 behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention line tax.
State Rep. Tina Orwall, a Democrat who represents District 33 in South King County, said the line tax brings in about $55 million per year and portions of that amount are used to pay for call centers, liability protections and training.
“We set aside $8 million for collocations of 988 and 911,” Orwall said. “Then we set most of the fee aside for what we’re calling a rapid clinical response.”
The pilot program is the first of its kind in Washington and will serve as an alternative to sending emergency response units in instances of mental health crisis.
South Sound 911 call takers assess each call and determine if it is appropriate to transfer the call to the on-site 988 counselor who will provide the caller with resources, according to the press release.
“The big difference between 911 and 988 is we’re triaging calls and screening for emergencies and its very fast moving, very quick for our call takers to screen a call to determine if there’s an emergency and then move on to the next one,” Orwall said. “988 provides this huge benefit if they have the ability to stay on the phone with the callers for we heard on average about 20 minutes to help de-escalate a call so that first responders aren’t needed to respond at all.”
The South Sound 911 pilot program only has one 988 counselor, who is an existing staff member at Volunteers of America, but the agency hopes to hire a more counselors soon, said Levi Van Dyke, VOA senior director of Behavioral Health Levi Van Dyke.
The on-site 988 counselor’s availability is limited to Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturday and Sundays from 2 p.m. to midnight, but availability of counselors will change depending on how many are hired.
“As we’re able to add additional counselors, then those coverage times will expand out from there, out from there and we’ll try to distribute those evenly, but we’re also always looking at any kind of call data trends in trying to put those staff in the in the time slots or the positions that will be most effective for for helping folks that are having behavioral health needs,” Van Dyke said.
Other mental health support pilot programs are expected to launch in King County and in Spokane County as soon as July 1.
If you or anyone you know is thinking about suicide or would like emotional support call or text 988 or chat with someone online.
