NAMI Finds that Three in Four U.S. Adults Still Haven’t Heard of 988
Credit: iStock
By Catherine Dorrough
Although the new 988 national suicide hotline is set to debut on July 16, a poll conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Ipsos found that 77 percent of U.S. adults have never heard of it.
That percentage is virtually unchanged since NAMI’s October 2021 survey on the same topic. The number of adults who are at least somewhat familiar with it has also remained flat, at 4 percent. The remaining respondents said they are not familiar with it or have only heard of it.
NAMI’s polling did, however, find strong support for mental health resources among respondents. An overwhelming majority (86 percent) said they believe that when someone is in a mental health or suicide crisis, they should receive a mental health response, not a police response. And 89 percent agreed that everyone, regardless of location or income, deserves access to quality mental health crisis response and care.
“When 988 is available next month, it will be a tremendous resource for people in crisis and their families. But 988 also provides us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the way our communities respond to mental health and suicide crises,” said Daniel H. Gillison Jr., CEO of NAMI, in a press release accompanying the poll results. “These findings further strengthen our resolve to raise visibility about the upcoming launch of 988 and advocate for meaningful change to ensure everyone in crisis gets the help they need – not handcuffs.”
In contrast to NAMI’s poll findings, other advocacy groups have raised concerns that the hotline may not have the necessary resources to deal with an influx of new callers once it launches. Representatives from The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, both told CNN recently that they have concerns about the new system’s readiness.
Whether they have heard of 988 or not, respondents to the NAMI poll reported strong support for suicide prevention resources. More than 4 in 5 said they support federal funding of 988 call-center operations and crisis response services, and 85 percent said they support state funding. A similarly high number (87 percent) said they support sending mental health professionals to respond to mental health, alcohol/drug, or suicide crises.
However, a narrower majority of 55 percent said they support adding monthly fees to phone bills to fund 988 services, similar to the fees already collected to fund 911 services.
When considering existing 911 services and the upcoming 988 service, 84 percent said they trust they would receive the help they need by dialing 911, and 80 percent said they trusted they would receive the necessary help from 988. (That being said, only one in four respondents said they would trust 988 “a great deal”; more than half said they would “somewhat” trust the service.)