National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Hospitals in St. Petersburg and other parts of the U.S. are seeing more young people come in with suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know needs mental health support, you can call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

The national crisis hotline was up and running Friday morning after being down for several hours Thursday. The telecommunications provider for the service says it experienced "an incident."

In a mental health crisis, a conversation with an empathetic listener can be live-saving. But when someone needs in-person help, there's a shortage of resources in many parts of the country.

The 988 line is the centerpiece of a nationwide effort to unify responses to Americans experiencing mental health crises. But many people, especially in rural areas, will continue to find themselves far from help if they need more support than operators can offer.

Federal officials are grappling with how local teams staffing the national 988 lines will contend with suspicion of the medical establishment.

Racial and ethnic minority groups are most likely to live in impoverished areas, where homicide and suicide rates are highest. Mental health leaders hope the 988 phone number will be so easy to remember that they'll get help before it's too late.

Counselors in Florida have been preparing for the abbreviated number, which proponents say will be easier to remember in a crisis. They also hope it improves access to services, decreases unnecessary interactions with the police and saves lives.

Mental health advocates hope the new hotline will make it easier to get support if you're in crisis or helping someone who is. Here's how it works and what could stand in its way.

In 2017, the rapper Logic named a song after the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number. A new study has found it may have had a remarkable impact.

More than 20 veterans take their own lives every day in the U.S. and the majority never sought the help that was available to them.