Federal 988 Director Monica Johnson and leaders from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services toured one of the state’s crisis call centers, celebrating the recent anniversary of 988 hotline’s launch two years ago.
“So North Carolina is my first stop post our anniversary.”
Crisis centers are a resource for individuals going through mental health crises, providing emotional support for their state or local communities. Johnson said 988 and North Carolina’s Peer Warmline couldn’t be successful without the dedicated call center staff. REAL Crisis Center received an average of 8000 contacts a month for all of North Carolina
“Nothing helps inform policy other than getting out of the bubble and getting to where the people are, so it's important to me to be able to see what is happening. Being able to talk to our heroes that work in crisis contact centers.”
On the state level, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Kody Kinsley, highlighted North Carolina’s leadership in suicide prevention through specialized care and resources. He said the state received $835 million from the N.C. General Assembly for behavioral health investments and has already begun expanding services, including breaking ground on a new mental health facility at ECU.
“People that are in a tough spot, they may not be in crisis, but they just need to talk to someone who’s been in that spot before. And that’s the beauty of North Carolina’s unique initiative, the North Carolina Peer Line.”
Kinsley addressed the ongoing challenges in mental health support and emphasized that the state is addressing these through substantial investments and efforts to break down stigma. Kinsley said the state’s plans include further expanding services and increasing accessibility at the primary care level.
“More people are aware of it. They're talking about it. We're breaking down stigma, and that's good. But now we need to make sure that it's available to primary care level as well. So these transformational investments are underway. It's going to take some time to see the value of them play out, but North Carolina is leading the nation in making these investments and I'm so proud of that work.”
Chief Operating Officer of Recovery Innovations, Joy Brunson-Nsubuga works in North Carolina and said the state’s behavioral healthcare system is built up by individual communities.
“A lot of the work that's been done here has been really counties coming together. And communities coming together to look at what is national best practices and then putting the effort in to provide that level of support to the communities that that we're serving.”
Suicide remains among the top five leading causes of death for people ages 10 to 65 in North Carolina. The state continues to carry out the four-year Suicide Prevention Action Plan, focused on specific actions taken to reduce injury and death by suicide across North Carolina.