988 is an easy to remember three-digit phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. It replaced the old 10-digit number on July 16, 2022. 988 provides call and text services for people in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors. It does NOT provide mobile mental health non-police crisis services.

 

With the passage of AB 988, the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act, California will enhance the new 988 call number. Callers will be connected with around-the-clock intervention, including mobile crisis teams staffed by trained mental health professionals and trained peers instead of law enforcement. The bill also funded interoperability between 988 and 911, allowing calls to be transferred between the two and the best services to be provided for mental health emergencies.

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Although signed into law, Governor Newsom directed the California Health & Human Services Agency Newsom to provide cleanup, clarifying language on the 2023-2024 budget.

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