April 05, 2023
Behavioral Health Crisis Call Centers are the front door to behavioral health crisis care and are staffed by clinically trained behavioral health workers. SAMHSA’s National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Services1 calls for regional crisis call centers that provide crisis intervention capabilities (telephonic, text, and chat) for risk assessment and engagement of individuals at risk of suicide and any other behavioral health crisis. In July 2022, many crisis call centers transitioned from the national 10 digit “1-800-273-Talk” or local state/regional crisis phone numbers to be part of the new 3-digit “988” Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.