IOWA, USA — Starting Saturday, if someone in a mental crisis texts or calls 988, they'll be connected to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
In Iowa, there's two locations handling those calls: CommUnity Crisis Services and Foundation 2.
"Setting up the infrastructure for 988 has been a heavy lift," says CommUnity Crisis Services CEO Sarah Nelson.
The law creating "988" was signed by former President Donald Trump in 2020. Since then, Nelson says her office has worked to increase its staff from 88 to over 180.
"It's a massive hiring undertaking during a time when workforce is experiencing major challenges," says Nelson. "So it's definitely had its unique challenges. And we're doing something that's never been done before."
If an Iowan calls or texts "988" and neither of Iowa's two centers have staff available, Nelson says those calls will roll over to a trained counselor in a different state.
"We know if somebody calls, chats, or texts that they are going to get a crisis counselor that's trained and there for them on the other end of that line. Our goal is ultimately to get to the point where we are answering 90% of Iowans 988 calls and chats by our two centers," she said.
Nelson adds the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has put out early projections for what call volume might look like. But she says those are just projections and like any new endeavor, Iowa's two centers will likely encounter kinks to work out.
"We're going to be learning as we go. In terms of what is that actual capacity going to need to look like, what staff will we need to make sure that we're able to answer 90% of the calls within Iowa?" Nelson said. "We're gonna learn that as we go and adjust."