Sweetser is starting to promote the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. This shorter phone number will make it easier for people to remember and access mental health crisis services. Much like people have it fully engrained to call 911 during emergencies to be connected with public safety officials, the goal is to do the same thing with 988 for mental health support. This will hopefully reduce barriers to getting help when someone needs it and get them in touch with local providers like Sweetser, as the largest provider of mobile crisis services in our state.
Sweetser’s Senior Director of Public Relations & Advancement, Justin Chenette, was interviewed on WMTW’s Mental Health Moment segment to talk about why this number will be lifesaving.