If we are going to be successful in Funding 988 in Kentucky, we need a coalition of organizations, religious groups, and professionals across Kentucky.

The support of organizations like yours will help us to create a mental health response system in Kentucky that saves lives, is interoperable with 9-1-1 for a "no wrong door" approach, and which provides appropriate responses to mental health and substance use crises.

The purpose of this coalition is to revolutionize the mental health and substance use crisis system in Kentucky by building on the success of the UNANIMOUS passage of the federal National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020. 9-8-8 is replacing the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's 1-800-273-8255 number, but more than that, it's a revolution in how we think about and handle mental health crisis services.

As a coalition, we are asking the Kentucky General Assembly to designate a $0.70 fee on mobile phone lines to create a 9-8-8 system that is responsive, answered locally, and links to an appropriate mental health crisis response.  A FEE, unlike a tax, can only be used for the services or items it is assessed for. The fee is the same as that assessed by 9-1-1 on mobile lines across Kentucky, and fund allocation will be the responsibility of a board developed expressly for that purpose. This will ensure mental health and substance use disorder crisis response is in the hands of people who best understand the resources and needs available in any county in the commonwealth.

No call to the suicide prevention hotline should go unanswered, and without this fee there is a real chance Kentucky's calls will be answered by out-of-state call centers in New York, NY or Miami, FL instead of here at home. Over 90% of calls to the hotline right now do not involve emergency personnel, but a system of care for next-day appointments or crisis stabilization. That after-call care is much more successful when calls are answered locally by the community mental health center nearest them.

The statement must be signed by the President, Executive Director, or Board Chair of your organization.

If you are an individual and are not able to sign up on behalf of an organization, please use our individual form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdcTv-Ta7Ht1LQIp5S_-8VYYMPIOfD7eqATrHH1RvRHExCayw/viewform