Tidesphere

"Hope the night is manageable." I work in a field where people aren't sure how to wish me a good night at work.

988 is not using any AI in conversations with callers to my knowledge. I know that some branches are looking at implementing AI for training purposes, to perhaps give more realistic simulation calls for trainers, but at no point should anybody calling 988 needing help encounter an AI. For the chat platform, I know that the messaging system has some automatic questions that it asks everyone at the very start of the conversation, but it's a machine in the classic sense, and is not AI. Chat/Texters should not be encountering AI either.

988 Worker here.

Every single time someone asks me what we can do to fight the mental health epidemic in the U.S. and the rising suicide rates, I always always tell them the keys are workers rights, affordable housing, a healthcare system that doesn't suck, all of this shit that the person asking typically doesn't want.

I'm not aware of this having happened anywhere. At least not with the 988 Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which I assume is the line that's being referenced.

It's definitely true that my training, experience and employment gives me a lot more resources. I definitely encourage people to help others call us, rather than 911, when they're able.

The group that handles 988, the suicide line, is called Vibrant and they're working with 911 dispatchers all over the country to train them to transfer over to 988 if there's any situation like that instead of handling it themselves.

Yeah, unfortunately not all call centers have the same policies. I can only speak for mine.

In some places, but not all, 911 will dispatch them and usually these crisis teams are required to bring at least one officer with them.

Also mental health practitioner here. The confused looks my family gives when they ask how to solve the mental health crisis. And I say worker's rights, better pay, affordable housing, single payer health care, measures against online radicalization, etc

A good tip, many counties have what's called a mobile crisis unit. It's like an ambulance of mental health workers that come to your home and don't take you anywhere. Usually calling 988 you can ask them to help you find yours if you can't find it.

I work for a mental health crisis line. We are taught, with extremity, to always go for least intrusive intervention possible. We will only ever call Emergency Services after a literal check list to ensure it's the last resort possible.

Practically the only times we ever call EMS on someone is if they tell us they are actively dying this very second, due to injury or overdose, etc. Or if they, after all of our attempts to listen, empathize, talk about what's going on, talk about how they're feeling tonight, work on what options there might be, who in their lives might be able to help, listing resources, and attempting to safety plan; if after all that, they say "yeah, I'm gonna kill myself specifically in this fashion and I'm gonna do it right now, and I have the means available to me." Then hang up and don't answer when we call back. Then we call EMS.

It's drilled into us that EMS is expensive for the person, and potentially dangerous because police are often not great at responding to Mental Health emergencies. So always the last last last resort.