One year into 988 hotline, staff push for fixes to ambitious new system
From routing issues to unpredictable call volumes, staff say they’re proud of how they’ve handled the last year — but that there’s a lot of work left before the system…
One year after 988 launched as the new number for the national U.S. mental health hotline, the people behind the system say they’re still working out some kinks.
In an ideal world, for example, a caller in New York looking to talk would be routed to a New York call center, so that hotline workers could direct them to the most relevant information on local resources. But right now, calls are routed to the system by area code — meaning someone based in New York, but whose phone has a Massachusetts area code, will be routed to a Massachusetts call center.
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