Councilwoman pushes for 3-digit suicide crisis hotline number

Councilwoman pushes for 3-digit suicide crisis hotline number

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SALT LAKE CITY — As a member of the Salt Lake County Council, which budgets for a wide array of mental health crisis services in the county, Aimee Winder Newton said she struggled to remember how to access that help when her own child needed it.

"If I, as a mom, is struggling where to get resources, I knew there had to be other people as well," Winder Newton told members of the County Council Tuesday.

She has since wondered whether help could be accessed as easily as dialing a three-digit telephone number.

Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, told council members that suicide is the leading cause of death among Utah youths and has become increasingly prevalent with middle-age and senior adults. Utah is part of the Western states "suicide belt," he said, meaning suicide rates are 40 percent higher than Eastern states.

"We're on a lot of good top five lists. This is not a good one to be on," he said.

In the past, the state has worked with University Neuropsychiatric Institute funding the development of the SafeUT cellphone app, which provides youths confidential and anonymous two-way communication with crisis counselors at UNI or school staff via one-touch options to “Call Crisisline,” “Chat Crisisline” or “Submit a Tip.”

While the app has resulted in 3,000 communications back and forth between calls and texts with individuals, there is need for a general, easy-to-remember three-digit telephone number to access help statewide, Eliason said.

To illustrate his point, Eliason asked for a show of hands for anyone in the room who had memorized UNI's Crisisline phone number, which is 801-587-3000. Very few people raised their hands.

"Our overall goal is to create a statewide crisis number," he said, adding that local mental health authorities could opt into the service and people statewide would benefit from access to a single number.

"Evidenced by the fact, if you can't even remember it, it's kind of hard to call it," he said noting in nearly 50 percent of youth suicides there is a 10-minute window between the time a youth decides to take his or her life and attempts to kill themselves.

At this point, state officials are exploring numbers that end with 11, akin to 911 for emergency services or 211 for referrals to a human service agency or nonprofit organizations.

One option that has been raised is 311, but two Utah municipalities — Provo and Orem — now use the number to help constituents connect with government services.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams' office "has been interested in fully implementing a nonemergency, government services 311 program in Salt Lake County to improve customer service and government transparency," a memo from Salt Lake County Deputy Mayor Lori Bays to the County Council states.

The council provided funding to develop a 311 program in the county in 2014 and 2015. A funding request for the program was not funded in 2016, although the council allowed the administration to conduct a feasibility and needs assessment for the program, the memo says.

The memo also notes that the Federal Communication Commission has assigned 311 nationally as a "nonemergency government services number." The Utah League of Cities and Town is asking the state to use another number to connect people to crisis services.

But Missy Larsen, chief of staff for the Utah Attorney General's Office, said she disagrees with the interpretation that 311 would not be appropriate for the suicide help number.

"It does fit the scope of 311. We want to be very, very clear with that," she said.

Both Bays and Newton agreed to continue conversations about the best three-digit number to access the crisis line.

Likewise, Eliason plans to continue to work with the Utah Legislature to address the issue.

"We can’t wait any longer in terms of this epidemic," he said.

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Marjorie Cortez

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