Today is 988 Day

0:00Hi everyone, this is Carla Rose Hanson. I'm in for Tyler Axnes, who's out of town for a while, and we're having a lot of good conversations this afternoon. Now we are going to switch gears a little bit and talk about suicide prevention. This is an issue that I've cared a lot about during my time in the North Dakota legislature, and I'm happy to have with us today. First links community engagement coordinator, Skyler Mani, Skyler, welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yes, so September is suicide prevention month and today is 988 day. Yes, September 8, September 8, September 8, it does 9-8, 988 day. So tell us a little bit about 988. It's been in place about four years, but it replaced the previous long phone number that people would use for to call a crisis phone line.

1:02So tell us a little bit about what impact this easier number. It's easier to remember 988 than it is to remember a really long phone number. Tell us about the impact that that has had to the call volume at first link, which handles those phone calls, and some of the other kind of new features that have been added over the years to help people. Yes, so like you said, 988 transitioned from the 1-800 national suicide prevention lifeline, but that was in place for many years before then about four years ago. And since then, first link, which is the answering center for 988 in North Dakota, first a casino 419% increase in call volumes. We take calls, texts and chats for 988 across North Dakota, and then we take calls for 17 counties in Minnesota. And in just those four years, we've seen this exponential increase in people reaching out for help, which is excellent. Yeah, that's incredible. And it's potentially due to more people having issues, but it's also probably due because people can access those services a little more easily if you're able to text or use a chat.

2:14It might be a little more comfortable for some people. It is way easier to remember a three digit number, like 98, how we remember 911, whereas when you have a 1-800 number, it might seem more intimidating, or you have a long number to remember. It may be in a time that you're not thinking very clearly. And so having this shortened number, along with this incredible marketing from the state of North Dakota that's been pushing 988 through the Health and Human Services Department, they've just been doing a fantastic job of getting that number out there. And it in people's hands for them to use in crisis, use for other people in crisis, and just remember. Yes. So when a person either texts or uses the chat or actually places a phone call, how does that usually go when someone is calling on their own behalf and they're expressing some concern about their own behavior, they're not feeling good. What do the people at the other end of the phone line or the other end of the chat? What are you typically doing? Yes. So it's all led on you. As the person that's reaching out to us, the only information we have is from you.

3:18We're not able to see things like color ID or get your address or know anything about you. So the conversation is what's important to you. What's bothering you? The only two things that I can promise are going to be the same on almost every 98 call are, we're going to ask you, are you having thoughts of suicide and have you taken any action to harm yourself today? This is part of our national accreditation because 988 is a national program. So we have to ask these questions, but other than that, it's going to be entirely led by you. What's bothering you right now and what you'd like to talk about in its confidential, completely confidential. The only time that we'd ever break confidentiality is in moments of extreme danger where there's imminent risk of harm to self or others. And last year when we had over, or we had 88,000 and four total contacts, I see these numbers a lot. So I know them. 88,000 and four total calls, texts and chats for the whole year. We only called the police without the person's consent 78 times. So we have a 99.9% success rate of deescalating these crisis and conflicts over the phone or text chat.

4:24So in addition to deescalating the situation and getting someone in a better state of mind, do you also provide them with resources on what they could do as a next step once they're off the phone line? Absolutely. We know the limitations of our work and that this half hour, 45 minutes that we're talking isn't going to solve whatever led up to this crisis. So we're always going to make sure that we are setting you up with appropriate professional care, whether it be a counselor, a therapist, maybe getting you connected to if finances are a stressor for you right now that's contributing to what's going on for you, maybe connecting you to rent resources, food resources, anything that can help ease whatever you're going through. We're going to work our best to connect you to that. Yes, it's my understanding that first link has a wonderful almost like a library or laundry list of resources available for people, whether it be a behavioral health need or like you said, something related to affordability type programs. Yeah, so at first link, not only do we answer the 98 lifeline, but we also answer the 211 information and referral help line.

5:28So you can call or text we cover all of North Dakota and then Clay County, Minnesota and that's for resources, referrals, information on things and just listening and support. So we have this incredible database with over 4,000 different resources across the entire state that is that we're able to connect you to either directly transfer you over or give you that information so you can call yourself and reach out to those people. So we're able to combine that across all of our lines. I just am so appreciative of the people who are staffing the 98 lines as well as the 211 lines because I mean that's pretty stressful to receive those phone calls or those chats and be in that situation, but you're handling it and in really directing people to some resources that are going to help them. So that's it's just such important work. Yeah, it's honestly incredible that we get to do the work that we do and spend time with people through the darkest moments of their life and see them through it and be there with them. Yeah, over the course of a conversation.

6:30So one of the more recent topics that has come up here in North Dakota is the issue of freedom, which is a substance that is used by some people maybe sometimes to get high, but sometimes, you know, as a way to either stop using a different substance or, you know, or deal with pain relief or something like that. So when the governor banned freedom a month ago, you know, before the legislature convened in a special session last week to continue the band and put regulations on other types of that put 988 in a spotlight, if you will, because you know, we it was direct, you know, the governor and other people would direct people who were using the product or might have had concerns about withdrawing for, you know, having withdrawal symptoms from the product, they were being directed to 988. So can you tell us a little bit about it, you know, did you get more calls than usual on this topic and how did you handle that for the people who were using specifically? Yeah, I mean, we're not unfamiliar with substance use topics. That's a, that's a common thing that people are calling about to talk about really with any kind of substances.

7:37And so we are, we're very comfortable handling those referrals and those conversations. So we did see a little bit of an influx talking about and withdrawing from the product, but nothing that's out of our scope or realm. And we're really able to continue to support those individuals. That's so great. I know it's always tough, especially when new things get on the horizon, but it sounds like it's right in your wheelhouse. Sure. So we're going to take a quick break, Skyler, but when we come back, I want to talk a little bit more about how the rest of us can maybe help with people who are thinking about suicide. So thanks again. Good afternoon. This is Carla Rose Hansen. I'm in for Tyler Axnus for Afternoons Live. And we are talking about suicide prevention, a very serious topic. But we have a wonderful guest with us to walk us through it. And that's Skyler Manny. She's, she's with first link, which answers the phone calls for 988, our statewide suicide prevention and crisis phone line. So Skyler, thanks again for joining us.

8:47Thanks for having me. Yeah. And today is 988 day nine slash eight. And one of the questions I have for you, when we talk about suicide prevention, is how people who are not professionals can help. So you are well trained in this, you know, all the dozens of staff who answer the phone line or answer the chats for 988, they're trained on how to help someone through a dark moment. If I'm just an everyday person, someone who just lives in North Dakota, not trained on this, what are the warning signs that I should be looking for if there is someone I know who might be going through a crisis. And then what should I do about that? What would be some acceptable or, you know, effective things that I could do in reaction to that? Yeah. So I think there's a huge misconception in mental health and just hearing about others that you have to have all of the answers. And that's not true at all. There's resources that you can turn to for support. And one of those is 988.

9:50So if somebody in your life is, you know, changing their behavior in a way that that is abnormal for them, right? Like I can't, I can't tell you these specific things are warning signs for suicide. Because it really just comes down to somebody's behavior is changing that like something that small can be a red flag that you need to maybe maybe take some action to talk to this person and see what's going on. So maybe it's changing their eating or sleeping habits. A common one that you hear is giving away possessions or maybe planning for new narrows or wills things like that that people are preparing. But again, just keeping in mind any change in behavior can be indicative of thoughts of suicide. And if you are concerned about somebody in your life, you can call text or chat 98 and first link can actually help you through that situation. Even if it's not a crisis reaching out, we can help you either get connected to resources to help that individual. We can communication coach you and maybe give you some tips and tricks and empower you to have that conversation with the person you're concerned about.

10:56Or if you really don't feel comfortable having that conversation at all, we can actually call them for you. So we would get their phone number and their name and we would call them two times. If they don't answer, we would call you back to let you know that we couldn't get a hold of them and maybe what our next steps would be, whether it's you going over to check, maybe it's calling a welfare check. Anything like that, if they do answer, we would say, hi, my name is Skyler. I'm with 98. Someone in your life is concerned about you. Do you have time to talk? We would never let them know that it was you that was originally concerned. And then we wouldn't call you back because we don't want to break any of their confidentiality either. But this is such a great resource. I think about how many kids might be coming home from school saying that their friend is behaving weird and they don't know how to help them. And you're hearing that as a parent and you don't know how to help them either, but we can help you through that situation. It can be for a family member, a friend, a colleague.

11:56Anybody that you know that you are concerned about, you can reach out for and we can help you. That is just incredible. I am just amazed by that breadth of resources that you're providing, not just to someone who's going through that tough time, but the people who are in their lives too. Not a lot of people know about that. And it's wonderful just to give that person, like you said, the feeling of empowerment to step in if they want or you can step in and that's amazing. I think a lot of times people are nervous about having those conversations because you might be worried that you're going to say the wrong thing or maybe even, you know, if I say something that might give them more ideas or lead to their behavior, whereas maybe listening to the person and being a resource in their life could do the opposite. Yeah, and calling that out and asking that question, making sure like, are you having thoughts of suicide? That's never going to lead somebody to consider suicide. If you're concerned about that, it's likely they already had those thoughts in their head anyways, or maybe they didn't, but it's just good to bring it up.

13:02It's not, you know, there's the stigma around it where we shouldn't talk about mental health. We shouldn't talk about thoughts of suicide, but bringing that out into the open can be so relieving for people who are experiencing those thoughts to be able to say it and they don't have that pressure to bring it up because you brought it up. Yes, I love that. And we are so appreciative of the work that 98 and first link does to make sure that fewer families have to deal with the tragedy of suicide because it's, you know, any one person is one person too much. And so anything we could do to help people through that is for the best. So, Skyler, thank you so much for joining us today. And thanks for the work that first link does every day. And we are going to take a break now and then we will be back on Afternoon's Live. And thanks for joining us today.