The NYS Office of Mental Health is committed to ensuring that New Yorkers experiencing a behavioral health crisis have equitable access to inclusive, high quality 988 services from NYS Lifeline crisis centers that are familiar with and dedicated to their community. This will be done by expanding workforce and Lifeline crisis center capacity through NYS.
This project will serve all individuals whose calls originate from NYS that are experiencing a behavioral health crisis and contact 988. NYS estimates that 988 will receive up to 996,000 contacts in its first year of operation, with that number expected to increase the following year. Because this project will touch all facets of NY's 988 operations, we estimate that between 1-2 million people will be served through the duration of the project.
Expansion of workforce and Lifeline crisis center capacity in NYS will be achieved by hiring a larger crisis center workforce, streamlining center operations, fortifying the network of backup centers, broadening the availability of chat/text services and ensuring proper connections to community services.
NYS has developed seven goals for this initiative. These goals are related to access, capacity, sustainable funding, consistent standards and stakeholder involvement at the core of planning. To achieve these goals, NYS has outlined 26 objectives which set priorities and targets for progress and accountability. The themes depicted in the objectives include 24/7 geographic coverage, target percent answer rates, standardized training and governance functions, follow-up and linkage procedures, and targets for expanded crisis services. The intention of all goals and objectives is to focus on three specific areas:
1. The recruitment, hiring and training of behavioral health workforce to staff local 988 centers to respond, intervene and provide follow-up to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
2. Engagement of Lifeline crisis centers to unify 988 response across the state.
3. Expansion of crisis center staffing and response structure needed for the successful implementation of 988 in NYS.
When NYS successfully achieves the goals and objectives outlined in this project, we expect that all calls originating in NY will route to a NY Lifeline crisis center, in-state response rates to 988 contacts will reach 90% and NY's capacity to meet 988 crisis contact demand for New Yorkers experiencing behavioral health crises will increase. For an in-depth review of all goals and objectives, Section B.
