In 2025, officials from the Department of Mental Health said they saw an increase in calls, chats and texts to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
The lifeline expanded the previous 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number that launched in 2005, which was specific to suicide crises. The 988 lifeline incorporates text, chat and videophone options and responds to any mental health or substance abuse crises.
By the numbers
Casey Muckler, crisis services coordinator at the Missouri Department of Mental Health, said that in the last fiscal year, about 95,000 calls, 13,000 chats and 24,000 texts were answered in Missouri, an increase from the previous year.
“We’re really glad to see that volume is increasing, because hopefully that means that more people are learning about 988, and they’re realizing that it is a resource that they can reach out to when they need it,” Muckler said.
Missouri experienced a higher volume of 988 calls compared to the national average in the fiscal year 2025 — approximately 100,000 calls were routed to Missouri, whereas the average state saw between 83,000 and 84,000 calls routed, she explained.
Missouri has seven crisis centers — six of which answer calls made to 988. Burrell Behavioral Health is the agency that responds to calls from Mid-Missouri and the Springfield area.
“The crisis specialists who answer 988 calls offer someone to talk to and help connecting to additional behavioral health resources,” said Mary Kate Hafner, communications business partner at Burrell Behavioral Health, in an email. “This can be something as simple as advice on scheduling an appointment with a therapist all the way up to mobile crisis responses and/or referrals to behavioral health crisis centers.”
Burrell Behavioral Health received more than 10,000 calls from the 988 lifeline in 2025, according to Hafner.
According to Wende Wagner, development manager for DeafLEAD, from August to October last year, DeafLEAD’s two lines — one in Missouri and one nationwide — went from a combined 11,000 text and chat contacts to 16,744, approximately a 52 percent increase.
“I think we’re going to see, as the younger generation learns more about (text and chat), they’re going to be using that more,” Wagner said. “It’s going to be interesting to see if text and chat, specifically texting, starts to rise as the younger generation gets a little bit older.”
History of 988
The idea of a three-digit crisis lifeline originated out of the state of Utah.
“A group of advocates out of the state of Utah went to their legislators about this idea they had for a three-digit number for anyone who was in emotional distress experiencing thoughts of suicide, but also experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis,” Muckler said.
Representatives in Utah took up the proposal, and it became a discussion at the national level.
In 2018, the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act required Congress to study the feasibility of a three-digit number for a national suicide prevention and crisis hotline system, which was later established as that number by the Federal Communications Commission, Muckler said.
In 2021, the FCC voted unanimously to allow for texting the 988 number.
“Previously, it was only calls that were allowed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and chat service online,” Muckler said. “But in 2021, they voted for text to be available, because we know there’s a lot of our population that doesn’t want to talk on the phone, and they may not want to chat online. So that was a huge step.”
988 officially launched in July 2022 — and in Missouri, other structures shifted, too.
Because 988 responds to a wider range of mental health crises than previous systems, the challenge for Missouri became being able to direct people to the right resources based on the type of crisis they are having, Muckler explained. As 988’s launch approached, the state began to expand its resources.
“988 coming and becoming a really well-stood-up national resource sparked a lot of states to say, ‘Hey, we actually need a lot of programs, a lot of services on the back end, because we know people are going to call, and that’s our front door to our crisis system,’” she said.
Missouri has had a crisis text line since 2012, but before 988, the line was volunteer-led. When 988 was established, DeafLEAD became Missouri’s 988 text and chat center and a national provider for the 988 videophone.
Along with 988, Missouri has resources such as Mobile Crisis Response, where teams of people can meet someone in crisis directly in their community, and Behavioral Health Crisis Centers, where people can walk in and receive support.
Increased accessibility
With the launch of 988 also came increased access for people who are deaf or hard of hearing — specifically, the videophone option that became available in 2023.
“So if somebody calls a doctor’s office or something, and would want to speak to someone … via their videophone, they are connected to an interpreter, and usually that’s a hearing interpreter,” Wagner said. “So there’s that third party that’s in between them interpreting what they’re saying to usually a hearing person on the other end.”
The videophone option can be accessed by dialing 988 into the video call function on a phone, which connects directly to a crisis counselor who is fluent in ASL.
“It’s just really important to make sure that care and access is equitable,” Wagner said.
The Department of Mental Health has a statewide 988 awareness and education campaign and a 988 website with information specific to Missouri.
“One does not have to necessarily be in a crisis for 988,” Wagner said. “It’s emotional distress. It’s someone who feels lonely … It’s for anyone, no matter what you’re feeling, and nothing is silly.”
The work of the Missouri News Network is written by Missouri School of Journalism students and editors for publication by Missouri Press Association member newspapers.