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samhsa.gov

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launch

Also: 988 · 988 Partner Toolkit

“988”

SAMHSA's public rollout of the three-digit 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which went live 16 July 2022 replacing the 1-800 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number. Communication relied on a partner toolkit of social, video, print and radio materials and later an annual 988 Day.

Years
2022–now
Country
United States
Budget
USD 12,289,135 SAMHSA order for 988 communications support, Dec 2022-Jul 2025, to Jones Public Affairs; USD 5,943,272 order for the 988 public service advertisement campaign, Sep 2023-Mar 2025, to Fors Marsh Group (USAspending)
Coined
988
Topic
Mental healthSuicide prevention
Asks people to
Seek help
Strategy
Policy pairedSimple instruction
Channel
PrintRadioSocial (organic)Social (paid)
Audience
General public

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalMixed

Counselors answered >10 million calls, texts and chats after launch (partner source); a 2023 KFF poll found only 18% of adults familiar with 988, indicating limited awareness. Lifeline call volume rose in every state after 988 went live (mean within-state +32.8%; Purtle 2023); 16.3 million contacts in the first 30 months, about 2.4% of the population, with wide state variation (Purtle 2025). A difference-in-differences study of the 988 rollout found states with larger capacity gaps answered more calls in-state, but no detectable fall in suicide mortality; its estimates rule out modest short-run reductions (Hansen et al., NBER 2026).

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Executions (individual ads)

Sources

  1. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (SAMHSA) sponsor
  2. SAMHSA releases toolkit for 988 crisis line partners (AHA News, 16 Mar 2022) news · 2022
  3. Inaugural 988 Day (Mental Health America) news
  4. Purtle J et al. Implementation of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Estimating State-Level Increases in Call Demand Costs and Financing. J Ment Health Policy Econ 2023 evaluation · 2023 · PMID 37357873
  5. Purtle J et al. Use of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at National, Regional, and State Levels. JAMA Netw Open 2025 evaluation · 2025 · DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.14323 · PMID 40489115
  6. Strombotne KL et al. Veterans Crisis Line Contacts After the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Rollout. Am J Prev Med 2024 reference · 2024 · DOI 10.1016/j.amepre.2024.03.009 · PMID 38508424
  7. Cantor J et al. Changes in Specialty Crisis Services Offered Before and After the Launch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. JAMA Psychiatry 2025 reference · 2025 · DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4548 · PMID 39878975
  8. Hansen et al. The Impact of Suicide Hotlines on Health: Evidence from 988 Implementation. NBER Working Paper 35601, 2026 evaluation · 2026 · DOI 10.3386/w35601

Research notes

Taxonomy gap: crisis line launch is infrastructure plus communication; 'hotline' is not a channel value. Check for SAMHSA/Vibrant paid campaign evaluations (KFF polling series). Meta Ad Library: search 'SAMHSA' and '988 Lifeline'. Credits from contract records, 2026-10-22 procurement pass (USAspending API): both awards post-date the July 2022 switch-on, so they cover the follow-on promotion, not the launch toolkit; no contract for the pre-launch 2022 materials was found. Jones Public Affairs (JPA Health) order: 'SAMHSA 988 & Behavioral Health Crisis Coordinating Office communications support' (75S20323F42001). Fors Marsh order via NIH: 'SAMHSA 988 and Behavioral Health Coordinating Office: public service advertisements (PSAs) campaign' (75N98023F00001). Also: Interface Media Group, 'HHS Studio 988 video support services', 2023-2024 (USD 1.67M + 0.70M); Banyan Communications, 988 'communications, marketing and advertising services', Sep 2026-Sep 2027, USD 14.3M (next phase). Evidence updated 2026-10-22: level process -> observational and outcome unknown -> mixed: contacts rose after the launch, but awareness stayed low and the one causal study found no detectable effect on suicide deaths. Hansen 2026 is quasi-experimental but evaluates the crisis-line capacity (answer rates), not the public rollout, so it is not used for the level. Evidence updated 2026-10-22: Strombotne 2024 (Veterans Crisis Line contacts), Cantor 2025 (specialty crisis service supply) and Hansen 2026 (NBER; effect of 988 legislation and funding on answer rates and suicide deaths, no detectable fall in deaths) set to reference, since they measure the VA line, service supply and the 988 law rather than the launch; their sentences were moved out of findings. Level stays observational and outcome stays mixed, now resting on contacts rising after launch (Purtle 2023, 2025) against low public awareness (KFF 2023); the earlier note citing "the one causal study" refers to Hansen 2026, now background only. Evidence updated 2026-10-22 (lead review): Hansen 2026 restored as an evaluation (it tests the rollout's effect on suicide deaths, the campaign's goal); level raised to quasi-experimental; outcome stays mixed (more contacts, no detectable mortality effect). Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/samhsa-988-lifeline-launch.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign