If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 or visit 988Lifeline.org for 24/7, confidential support.

Anyone experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis – or their family members – can call, text, or chat the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, launched two years ago Tuesday, to reach a trained specialist who can offer assistance.

Reasons to call 988 include, but aren’t limited to thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, financial and relationship struggles, and any other kinds of serious emotional distress.
Reasons to call 988 include, but aren’t limited to thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, financial and relationship struggles, and any other kinds of serious emotional distress. (Photo courtesy of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.)

Reasons to call 988 include, but aren’t limited to thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, financial and relationship struggles, and any other kinds of serious emotional distress.

The confidential service “functions as a crucial gateway to crisis support within our communities,” said Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) Director LeeAnne Cornyn in a press release from Gov. Mike DeWine. “Our hope is that reaching out to 988 in a behavioral health crisis becomes as natural to Ohioans as dialing 911 in other types of emergencies.”

In two years, the 988 lifeline has:

Nearly 340,000 contacts via call, text or chat.

An average of 14,141 contacts per month.

An average of 1,652 chats per month from Ohio area codes.

An average of 2,686 texts per month from Ohio area codes.

An average of 9.804 calls per month, including veteran and Spanish-speaking calls routed to specialized national call centers.

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.