it's been one year since the Nationwide launch of the new 988 suicide and crisis Lifeline the new number replaced the old 10-digit one making it easier and more accessible for individuals in crisis to get the help they need 24 7. data shows calls to the hotline have increased since the change but a new survey also finds many people still don't know about the service and that misconceptions about the hotline persist see your correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports a lot more folks dialed 988 America's new three-digit Suicide Prevention Lifeline in its first year of operation than the old 10-digit phone number and that's good news what with post covet depression and anxiety rates Rising 988's objective is to Route mental health cases to trained counselors says Jersey's assistant Human Services commissioner with the pandemic a lot of individuals were experiencing um really a crisis as it relates to behave their own Behavioral Health and Wellness so we're really happy to see that um that there's been an increase in that individuals are are calling in to get that support Outreach to New Jersey's five Lifeline centers is anonymous survey show 988 calls climb 20 percent in New Jersey to just over fifty seven thousand sixty six percent Nationwide some 5 million U.S calls for help in a single year of those a million went through the Veterans Crisis Line the rest in included about 2.6 million calls 740 000 chats and 600 000 text messages but the system still relatively unknown according to a recent survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness we found that not a lot of people know about 988 uh only about 17 percent of Americans are familiar with it and more than two and five Americans said if they had a loved one who was in a mental health crisis or having thoughts of suicide they wouldn't know what to do to help them that's exactly what 988 is intended to help with and she says folks over 50 and communities of color are least familiar with 988 and some callers still experience confusion with many expecting a 9-1-1 type of response and that may prevent some from reaching out fear maybe Immigration Services if someone you know has a history of incarceration and you know they're afraid to call for a support because they're not sure you know if that would come back to them sometimes it could be related to just domestic violence issues Alicia marriage with Catholic Charities in Trenton which can deploy a mobile mental health Response Unit without police after Consulting with clients but each case must get assessed individually police and emergency services are utilized extremely sparingly and only under conditions where the limits of confidentiality apply one of which is when there's immediate danger to to sell for others Rutgers call center Chief Bill Zimmerman says counselors generally refer callers to local resources the system does transfer calls out of state to cut down on wait times but 83 percent of 988 calls in New Jersey were handled locally it reduced time spent on hold in New Jersey to just 29 seconds according to State officials when you're in crisis you know I think time gets distorted where what might be 30 seconds might feel like an eternity you if you're figuring out what to do with my loved one who has just told me that they feel like killing themselves Zimmerman heads jerseys only 24 7 365 call center at Rutgers he wants more engagement but worries that an upcoming PR Blitz to promote 988 this fall could drive up the number of calls but jerseys beefing up lifelines with a 10 million dollar investment that we're going to be putting out to bid to again to increase our capacity for calls our capacity for text and our capacity for chat so that that will enable our call centers to be able to hire additional individuals and to really to build that infrastructure she says New Jersey is also ramping up mobile response Vans each equipped with two mental health experts deployed over eight regions across the state and then we'll go to people's homes or wherever the individual is to provide that face-to-face support that 15 million dollar program launches by the end of this year I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music]