SULLIVAN COUNTY –– A bill sponsored by New York State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and New York State Senator Samra Brouk, which establishes a three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline (9-8-8), was recently signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul.
People will be able to call or text 9-8-8 when experiencing a mental health crisis, and line operators will work in tandem with 9-1-1 to ensure that the proper party responds to the crisis —regardless of which number the caller dials.

The legislation states that a 9-8-8 crisis hotline center or centers will be designated on or before July 16, and will provide suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to individuals accessing the hotline from anywhere within the state, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.

The bill tasks the New York State Office of Mental Health with creating training guidelines for 9-8-8 crisis hotline center staff. Trainings will be focused on assessing callers for suicidal risk, providing crisis counseling and crisis intervention, offering referrals to mental health and/or substance use services, and on providing linguistically and culturally competent care. Operators will also receive training to ensure that they meet linguistic and cultural competency standards to better serve diverse communities.

The 9-8-8 hotline will put people who need this specific type of support in touch with someone with the appropriate background/training.

Gunther told the Democrat that how you approach someone with a mental health issue is different from how you approach somebody with a broken leg.

“Sometimes you have to calm them down and you have to approach [them] in a certain manner,” Gunther, a former nurse, explained. “…You have to have this skill set to approach it and I think this [legislation] will create more people [who] do have that skill set.”

She noted that when a 9-8-8 call goes out, emergency personnel will know exactly what's going on with the individual, be able to prepare themselves to go into the situation and have the tools necessary to be able to treat the patient.

Gunther said the state legislature has discussed 9-8-8 for a while and that it was a long time coming.

“Right now, we need [these services] available, and hopefully, in the [state] budget, they will make sure that there's money put aside for these important issues,” said Gunther.
Regarding the 9-8-8 hotline, Sullivan County Director of Community Services Melissa Stickle told the Democrat, she is looking forward to having the service available to people in need so they can get support for the appropriate services as opposed to “our already overworked law enforcement.”

“This will be a great resource that will add to our current crisis response services and continued expansion plans,” said Stickle.

Sullivan County E-911 and EMS Coordinator Alex Rau echoed those sentiments. He believes the establishment of the 9-8-8 hotline will provide a valuable resource that will connect those having a mental health crisis with specially trained call takers and counselors that can begin to assist them immediately, pairing the right help at the right time to a patient in crisis.

“Our 911 system along with EMS and the law enforcement community have seen a significant increase in mental health-related calls over the past few years,” said Rau. “We look forward to continuing to be a partner in the discussion of 9-8-8 with our county's mental health professionals.”