Posted on Sep 22, 2023
988, the suicide and crisis prevention hotline, now offers American Sign Language for deaf...
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Missouri and Kansas receive thousands of calls and texts each month through 988. A new service added to the 988 Lifeline will offer suicide prevention and mental health crisis counseling through American Sign Language for people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing without the need for an interpreter.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
To access American Sign Language services via 988, you can call [login to see] on a phone with video capabilities, or press the ASL NOW button on 988lifeline.org. The 988 Lifeline is working to make videophone services reachable via the 988 phone number in the coming weeks.
On a warm and sunny September day, Columbia’s Peace Park in Central Missouri was bustling with advocates and community members who gathered to celebrate the launch of a new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline service designed for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.
At the park there was hardly any small talk. Most people were there to discuss mental health and celebrate — through chalk art, mural paintings, speeches and a wellness walk — a big step forward in expanding access to care to underserved communities across the country, advocates said.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
To access American Sign Language services via 988, you can call [login to see] on a phone with video capabilities, or press the ASL NOW button on 988lifeline.org. The 988 Lifeline is working to make videophone services reachable via the 988 phone number in the coming weeks.
On a warm and sunny September day, Columbia’s Peace Park in Central Missouri was bustling with advocates and community members who gathered to celebrate the launch of a new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline service designed for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.
At the park there was hardly any small talk. Most people were there to discuss mental health and celebrate — through chalk art, mural paintings, speeches and a wellness walk — a big step forward in expanding access to care to underserved communities across the country, advocates said.
988, the suicide and crisis prevention hotline, now offers American Sign Language for deaf...
Posted from kcur.org
Suicide
Mental Health
Depression
Posted 7 mo ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Deaf people do die by suicide, as well, and Deaf people are in crisis, as well. We're all humans. We raise children, we have families, the only difference between you and myself is [that] I'm deaf,” Romero said. “That's the only difference.”
Tia Dole, the chief 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline officer with Vibrant Emotional Health — a non-profit that administers the crisis line, said this is just one step toward 988’s goal of making its services accessible to all people who may need them.
“We want everybody who lives in this country, regardless of immigration status, regardless of who they are, where they live, to feel comfortable using 988 and to be able to speak in their language,” she said.
More work to be done
There is an awareness gap across the country. Since the launch of the 988 crisis line more than a year ago, only 17% of people in the U.S. said they are very or somewhat familiar with the service, according to a recent survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And nearly every state still reports vacant positions at their crisis line response centers.
Mental health leaders and advocates say there is more work to be done to meet a growing demand. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data, 14 million adults in the U.S. had a serious mental illness in 2021, and 12.3 million seriously considered suicide. These rates are growing among young people especially.
The celebration event featured a Wellness Walk, free pizza, resources from DeafLEAD and other 988 partner organizations and various forms of art. Artist Hunter McGrath drew numerous messages of support and hope on the sidewalks throughout Peace Park. "It is important to always ask for help even if you don't think that what you need is worth the help. Just ask for it because you are always worth the help," she said.
Rebecca Smith
/
KBIA
The celebration event featured a Wellness Walk, free pizza, resources from DeafLEAD and other 988 partner organizations and various forms of art. Artist Hunter McGrath drew numerous messages of support and hope on the sidewalks throughout Peace Park. "It is important to always ask for help even if you don't think that what you need is worth the help. Just ask for it because you are always worth the help," she said."...
..."Deaf people do die by suicide, as well, and Deaf people are in crisis, as well. We're all humans. We raise children, we have families, the only difference between you and myself is [that] I'm deaf,” Romero said. “That's the only difference.”
Tia Dole, the chief 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline officer with Vibrant Emotional Health — a non-profit that administers the crisis line, said this is just one step toward 988’s goal of making its services accessible to all people who may need them.
“We want everybody who lives in this country, regardless of immigration status, regardless of who they are, where they live, to feel comfortable using 988 and to be able to speak in their language,” she said.
More work to be done
There is an awareness gap across the country. Since the launch of the 988 crisis line more than a year ago, only 17% of people in the U.S. said they are very or somewhat familiar with the service, according to a recent survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And nearly every state still reports vacant positions at their crisis line response centers.
Mental health leaders and advocates say there is more work to be done to meet a growing demand. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data, 14 million adults in the U.S. had a serious mental illness in 2021, and 12.3 million seriously considered suicide. These rates are growing among young people especially.
The celebration event featured a Wellness Walk, free pizza, resources from DeafLEAD and other 988 partner organizations and various forms of art. Artist Hunter McGrath drew numerous messages of support and hope on the sidewalks throughout Peace Park. "It is important to always ask for help even if you don't think that what you need is worth the help. Just ask for it because you are always worth the help," she said.
Rebecca Smith
/
KBIA
The celebration event featured a Wellness Walk, free pizza, resources from DeafLEAD and other 988 partner organizations and various forms of art. Artist Hunter McGrath drew numerous messages of support and hope on the sidewalks throughout Peace Park. "It is important to always ask for help even if you don't think that what you need is worth the help. Just ask for it because you are always worth the help," she said."...
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We need sobriety, less of drug addictions and we don't need the vice president talking about teenagers having climate change, climate emergency, global warming, global cooling, etc. This Administration is not helping any trying to play up the climate change fanaticism and the vice president talking about young adults and teenagers worrying about not having kids or not being able to buy a home. Well they won't be able to buy a home the way this Administration keeps racing interest rates because of runaway inflation from too much spending. Electric car owners are going to have range anxiety because they don't know if their cars can make it to the next charging station and they're not sure if the charging station will be defective or not and not be able to charge their electric vehicles. That being said, drug abuse, smoking pot and legalizing it often causes depression people. There is a great increase of marijuana psychosis from smoking pot. It happens here in Canada too. So the hotlines a good thing but the less likes the push drug use and marijuana is not harmless. Marijuana is not harmless especially for the young because it can reprogram their brains and make them into idiots. I have two stepdaughters who smoke pot behind our back and use other drugs as well and both of them are now in public assistance and both of them don't want to work. They're always depressed, they're always smoking and they're often drunk. So I can't say from personal experience that drugs, alcohol, smoking marijuana and hanging out with other drug use does not make it any easier.
Stay sober and go to an AA or Narcotics Anonymous meeting near you after you call your suicide hotline.
https://www.aa.org/
Stay sober and go to an AA or Narcotics Anonymous meeting near you after you call your suicide hotline.
https://www.aa.org/
Have a problem with alcohol? There is a solution. | Alcoholics Anonymous
Have a problem with alcohol? There is a solution. A.A. has a simple program that works. It’s based on one alcoholic helping another.
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