SALT LAKE CITY — 988 Day on Sunday marks the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Week, something that hits close to home in Utah.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Utah has more cities than any other state where there’s a high prevalence of depression, with three ranking in the top 20.
Ogden comes in at No. 12, while Salt Lake City and Logan tie at No. 20.
"Sadly, suicide is the leading cause of death for children in the state of Utah, and we lose far too many Utahns to suicide," said State Rep. Steve Eliason (R-Sandy).
One of the best resources the state and nation now have is 988, which Eliason is very familiar. He helped Utah become the first state to transition to a three-digit number for people to call when they’re suffering from a mental crisis.
"It was a huge step to make 988 accessible through a three-digit number," explained Rachel Lucynski, Dir. of Community Crisis Services with the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. "It used to be a ten-digit dialing code that’s almost impossible to remember."
Launching two years ago on a national basis, the campaign to raise awareness about the 988 number is in part about clearing up the confusion between 911 and 988.
"It’s not like 911," said Lucynski. "They are trained to answer and quickly deploy resources. Our 988 team is actually trained to answer the call and work to deescalate the crisis, access the level of safety or risk that someone is experiencing and then make the appropriate connection to resources."
Those resources can include deploying a mobile crisis outreach team to someone contemplating suicide or getting them to one of the state’s crisis receiving centers.
"They’re designed like a living room space, a more comfortable, cozy space for people to come and stabilize versus maybe a more clinical hospital setting. The whole environment is designed to help people deescalate and be in a calm space," shared Cacilia Jensen, the crisis receiving center director for Four Corner Community Behavioral Health.
Anyone suffering from mental crisis is urged to call or text 988 at any hour during the day.
