Welcome to the 988 Awareness Project Blog

Welcome to the 988 Awareness Project blog!  This is our first blog post and is quite exciting. The 988 Awareness Project Board (we call ourselves the “988 Board” for short) is hard at work raising awareness of the new, abbreviated national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, with a focus on teens and military veterans.  

Did you know that teenagers and military veterans are two of the most at-risk populations for suicide?  The suicide rate for U.S. military veterans is 57.3% greater than for non-Veteran U.S. adults.  And, suicide is the second leading cause of death for those 15-19 years old, and the leading cause of death for those 14-15 years old.

Did you know that anyone can call or text the 3-digit number 988 if they are in a suicidal, mental health or substance abuse crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress, 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week?  If you are a military veteran, press 1 as soon as you are connected. (Please note that, currently, texting is only available in English.)  988 is also available for those that care about someone that is in a crisis.

The 988 Board meets weekly and, in the last two months alone, we’ve presented to various student clubs, met with high school administration officials, connected with military veteran groups and advocates, formed a team and raised money for the National Suicide Prevention Foundation “Out of the Darkness” 5K Community Walk in Las Vegas on April 22, and designed 988 stickers and T-shirts.  

The 988 Board started our efforts a few months ago by organizing ourselves into four main committees:  Community Outreach (led by Carter Umphress), Education and Programming (led by Xavier Carrier), Events (led by Leona Chan) and Marketing/Social Media (led by Hildana Hailu).  We also have over 30 high schoolers who have joined our Teen Committee (from as far away as Texas!). Each committee Chair meets either weekly or bi-monthly with the Teen Committee members assigned to their committee to implement action items and brainstorm additional ways to help promote awareness of 988.  

Our Teen Committee is growing and expanding!  Help us bring the 988 Awareness Project to your school/region.  If you’d like to be a part of the effort, we’d love to have you! Please fill out an interest form using the QR Code below.