ALBANY – Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a bill into law, requiring that New York State create a 9-8-8 emergency line to be used alongside 9-1-1.
This legislation sponsored in the Assembly by Aileen Gunther (D, Forestburg) and in the Senate by Samra Brouk (D, Rochester) acknowledges the severity of the mental health and substance abuse crisis facing New York.
The measure changes how the state will respond to mental health and substance use emergencies. Users can call or text 9-8-8 when experiencing a mental health crisis, and line operators will work in tandem with 9-1-1 to ensure that the proper party responds to the crisis—regardless of which number is dialed by the caller.
Federal guidelines call for states to have a 9-8-8 line in place by July of 2022, and the New York law goes further to ensure that there are appropriate training and reporting measures in place, officials say.
“The implementation of a three-digit mental health crisis lifeline has been a long time coming and the provisions of this bill will help New York State better serve hard-to-reach populations,” said Gunther. “I look forward to this lifesaving hotline going into effect and serving not only Orange and Sullivan counties but the entire state in this time of great need.”
The new law tasks the New York State Office of Mental Health with creating training guidelines for 9-8-8 crisis hotline center staff. Training will be focused on assessing callers for suicidal risk, providing crisis counseling and crisis intervention, offering referrals to mental health and/or substance use services, and providing linguistically and culturally competent care. To that end, operators will receive training to ensure that they meet linguistic and cultural competency standards to better serve diverse communities.
