988 National Mental Health Hotline To Launch Next Month

A new three-digit national mental health hotline is set to launch next month in the U.S.

The emergency number 988 will be dedicated to mental health crises and connect callers with specially trained staffers.

It’s scheduled to launch July 16th.

However, some mental health professionals worry that the network doesn’t have enough staff or infrastructure in place to handle the call load once 988 goes live.

What kind of impact will this service have?  Should there be other dedicated emergency three-digit numbers?