GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Officials from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services are looking forward to the launch of the 9-8-8 hotline.
“I think we’ve known there’s been a need for something like 9-8-8 for a very long time,” Wisconsin DHS Crisis Service Coordinator Caroline Crehan Neumann said.
Wisconsin health officials said 9-8-8 will make it easier for people to get the help they need. In its first full year, the in-state Wisconsin call center took more than 25,000 calls. That was in 2021. That number has risen in the first months of 2022, and it’s expected to continue growing.
“January 2021, we were taking about 1,100 calls a month,” Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin Outreach Coordinator Shelly Missall said. ” We’ve seen that consistently grow over the course of the last year and half, and in the last two months we’ve taken over 4,000 calls a month.”
The Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin is the location of the state’s only call center. Missall says the center is prepared for the influx of calls. However, she does expect some expansion.
“We are continuing to add staff to build capacity and right now we are working out of a physical call center in Green Bay, but we do hope to add the capacity to have remote work as well,” she said.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers issued a statement, saying the hotline will “provide greater access to counseling services across our state and country and will undoubtedly save lives.”
Neumann says over time, she expects 9-8-8 to integrate into lives similarly to 9-1-1.
“People are talking about mental health and substance use and suicidal thoughts so much more than they ever were, and I think over time we’ll look back in ten years and sort of chuckle at this idea that we never had 9-8-8,” she said.
She says the DHS has known about plans for the hotline for nearly two years.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, click here.
Comments