May is Mental Health Awareness Month – and Maine must allocate funds to 988 and crisis response services.

Having lost my dad to suicide less than a year ago, I urge Maine to consider the importance of state funding to 988 and crisis response services. The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act will be implemented nationwide in July, but Maine legislators have not recognized the importance of state-funding 988, the suicide prevention hotline number. (Until the shorter number is activated, people in crisis should call 800-273-8255.)

The purpose of Maine funding 988 is to ensure that our friends and family who call the national suicide hotline will connect to someone from our community immediately. Horrifically, nearly 80 percent of our communities do not have adequate mental health services for suicide-related matters.

Suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in Maine, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; however, it is also preventable. I cannot express enough how important it is for Maine to fund 988 and crisis response services, having lost my best friend and mentor to suicide. I encourage members of our community to push Maine legislators toward funding 988 and crisis response services as it will provide 24/7 crisis call centers; mobile crisis response teams, and crisis respite and stabilization centers.

Amanda Rice
North Yarmouth