DBHDD Webinar: The Future Opportunities and Challenges of 988 Rollout

Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) held a webinar on the 988 rollout process and state-level planning on April 22, 2022.

Slides from the webinar are attached at the bottom of the page.

Speakers:

Commissioner Judy Fitzgerald

Assistant Commissioner Ashley Fielding

Monica Johnson, Director, Division of Behavioral Health

Wendy Tiegreen, MSW, Office of Medicare Coordination and Health System Innovation

Dawn Peel, LPC CPCS, Director, Office of Crisis Coordination

Automated transcription of Webinar:

3:38

Okay. All right. Good morning. Thank you all for joining us today for a discussion on the state's preparation for July 16, which is the beginning of the rollout of the national dialing code for suicide prevention and crisis. My name is Ashley Fielding. I'm the Assistant Commissioner for Agency Affairs at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. And joining me today are four members of our in house planning team for nine eight eight.

In the next half hour, we will provide you with an update on the state's progress and planning for the rollout, and review the challenges and opportunities ahead as Georgia begins the long road toward one of the largest federally mandated Crisis Response transformations in decades. As I mentioned, you'll get to meet members of our in-house planning team who are working on all aspects of our planning and implementation from the call center all the way to the crisis receiving centers, and we should have plenty of time after that presentation for your questions. We have one change in schedule from our invitation, Commissioner Fitzgerald encountered a last minute conflict and will no longer be able to join us live today. However, she did not want to miss the opportunity to speak with you on such an important initiative. So if you all before we move on with our presentation, we're just going to short share a quick recorded message from her. Brian, share the video for us.

5:19

Thank you for joining us today for an update on our planning for the largest transformation in behavioral health crisis response Our state has ever seen. The rollout of the 988 dialing code comes at a time when mental health is front and center in Georgia and across the country. calls for help are already at an all time high as a result of the stress related to the pandemic. We are at the beginning of an unprecedented opportunity to reduce stigma, enhance access and build services with the ultimate goal of saving more Georgia lives from the tragedy of suicide and overdose. Here's what we know. 988 will frame our understanding of the true demand for behavioral health services in our state. And we expect that it will reveal the needs of Georgians more than any other work we've undertaken to date. 988 is the first broken ground on a major construction project for our nation's behavioral health system. We will be designing building and remodeling for the years to come. This is not unlike the development of 911, which took more than 30 years to cover 93% of the population and is still under development. Just like 911 Redefine emergency response 988 will shape how we build our crisis system. But with one key difference. Since the rollout of 911. People have become more savvy with technology and have the ability to adopt technological advances more quickly. As a result, demand and along with it expectations will rise quicker. This will challenge each state to build a system that will adapt to changing needs and technologies. Right now we are working under federally mandated and accelerated timelines to prepare for nine eight eighths rollout. When the dialing code goes live on July 16. It is day one of a job that will never truly be done. We are so grateful for the support of Governor Kemp and the General Assembly and their partnership in expanding the number of crisis beds available in Georgia this year, enhancing our current crisis call center and increasing access to outpatient services, all of which will help us to lay the foundation for the long road ahead. What's most important is this, the 90 day transformation is life saving work, and you are an integral part of its success. Thank you for joining us today. And thank you for your commitment to partnership as we build a mental health system that is accessible, accountable and dependable. Over the next half hour, you will hear from several experts on our team who are boots on the ground in this planning process for Georgia, and who can speak to the opportunities and challenges ahead. We welcome your questions. We value your input. We are also deeply grateful for those of you who have already been such a large part of this work. We want you to stay engaged. We know that Georgia families and communities are counting on all of us. And we cannot do this work without you. Thank you.

8:42

Thank you Commissioner Fitzgerald. That was a great message in a way to lead in the conversation we're going to have today. My name is Monica Johnson. I work here at the department. I am the division director for behavioral health. I've been here with DBHDD for 11 years, almost 12 years and a few months. And prior to come into the department, I worked in the community behavioral health system. I've spent my whole career in behavioral health. I'm a licensed professional counselor by trade and have a total years of experience of 26 years in this field. I'm excited to have this conversation with you all this morning to do a little bit of table setting and talk about what's next and what we're working on here in Georgia related to the beginning of our rollout of 988. Next slide please. So as you already know, if you're here today, at least the first thing you know is that we're talking about a 9883 digit number that individuals will be able to call but the individuals that are in a crisis related to behavioral health related to suicide prevention, any crisis under the behavioral health umbrella individuals will be able Call 988. This will be a national number. This will be effective July 16 of this year. And again, what we're focused on is making sure that people are able to be connected to train staff, individuals who can help address and respond to immediate needs of individuals that are in crisis seeking help support or treatment, this will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Next slide, please. So we see this as an opportunity. You heard me say, I've been in this field for 26 years, some of you out there may have a longer career than me. But what I can say for sure, is this is the most transformational initiative that I have seen that will forever shape and change the way people reach out who are in crisis. This is a positive thing. It having a way to divert individuals to the right places when they're in crisis is going to be exceptional. This will be able to allow us to meet the rising needs of individuals with mental health, substance abuse disorders and suicide interventions. The last few years have shown us that the demand is higher, and it will probably continue to grow. This definitely will be the largest federally mandated Crisis Response transformation that has taken place in decades. So the key features key points that I think are really important to think about when we talk about what this means for us. Connecting a person with immediate and ongoing resources is number one. It also promotes cost efficiency reduces the impact on law enforcement and safety resources. If you are able to direct individuals that are in a behavioral health crisis, away from 911 into nine a day, quickly connecting them with the professionals in the support that they will need. It will also help in stigma for individuals who are experiencing a crisis but may be hesitant to reach out for care. Next slide. So we put these in three buckets, I'd kind of did that on the last slide, but I want to break it down just a little bit more, we learn in different ways. So first bucket, thinking about our first primary role here is to make sure as we begin to do this, what will be a slow rollout and will take some time. But the first thing we need to be prepared to do as a state is to have a way for people to have someone to talk to somebody needs to be on the other side of the phone when the individual dials that number.

12:53

We also already have peer one peer run warm lines, we will continue to enhance that capacity. This is really important, a really important part of this whole system, having someone to answer the phone, that is licensed credential has all those things. But what we know in Georgia is that recovery works and peer support services work. There's no nothing like the value of the individual experiencing a crisis and gets to hear someone that also has shared lived experiences. So we will be enhancing that. So once you get someone to talk to the next step could possibly be someone to respond. So that may look like mobile crisis. We have mobile crisis statewide now, but enhancing that to make sure that we can respond in go to where the individual is when that is the appropriate response, coordination with 911 or EMS as appropriate. And then of course making those connections to outpatient community provider responses. And then lastly, having some place to go for the individual after the initial contact is made, and it is warranted. crisis stabilization units will be critical in this. Our crisis service centers are pure wellness, respite opportunities, detox and substance use treatment, inpatient beds, as well as other outpatient crisis type services. I do want to say and I'm gonna say it probably more than once whenever I get the mic, that is important to keep something really critical in mind. While we are very anchored to talking about crisis, because we're talking about a crisis line, it is extremely critical to remember that the best way to prepare for 988 In addition to the things that you're gonna hear about today, is to make sure we keep our ball or our eye on the ball of building non out non crisis services. The best way to prevent a crisis is to work Work on that before. So while you were crisis heavy in conversation today, please remember how important it is to prevent crisis where we can and continue to build upon the foundation of the behavioral health system, which does not mean you have to enter the system when you're in crisis. So keep that in mind. And I'm going to underscore that every time I get an opportunity. Next slide, please. This slide has a lot going on. So I'm going to tell you the most important thing I think for you to remember is that right now, we already have a Georgia crisis call center. So we have that not every state has that and that that's a very positive thing for Georgia. So right now, there's already capacity around how people access our crisis center that we currently have. So rather, is they call our one 800 number that's associated with our G cow call center. Rather, they call rather, they chat rather than text, those features are available now. Current and future national suicide prevention calls already go into our crisis line. You can see other areas in which our current crisis system, our call center has the capacity to do a lot of things now, we will be spending a lot of time making improvements and enhancing as we prepare to receive new 988 calls. Next slide. So kind of harkening back to what the commissioner said to you all earlier. Again, the call this number will be available July 16, of this year, so in a couple of months, but remember that this will be an initial step that July 16 Day is an initial step to a very long term transition to get to where we are remembering that it took not one 130 years to be able to cover 93% of the population. And now my one continues to evolve. Even today, we will take those lessons, we will take all of the things that we can learn from that transformation, apply it to this roll out and begin to make our transition as we gear up for what's going to be a very brand new world.

17:31

Next slide.

17:34

So what this was recently released in is important because this is Samsung's view. So Samsung put out a five year vision for 988. What you're going to see here is similar to what we've already been planning for on our own as a state. So it helps us to know we are on the correct trajectory. So again, Sam says plan is to have someone to talk to so first contact, you know, crisis contact centers, we have a call center already, their goal is that 90% will have all of the non eight contacts will be answered by the state by 2023. So as you can see, they have goals that are set out into the future, also anticipating that it is going to take some time to build and get where we want to be. You will see that they have mobile crisis services, someone to respond to Georgia already has mobile crisis that covers the entire state. We'll continue to enhance that to be able to respond to anticipated demand in the future. But you will see the targets that are here on the slide that SAMSA is looking for. And then lastly, stabilization services. So we are aligned with the vision of the federal government. And we've been doing our work on our own as well. And so we're excited that we seem to be going in the right direction, and that we will be taking this in incremental steps. Next slide. So we're going to transition I'm going to bring on Dawn Peel. Dawn is our Director for the Office of crisis coordination to talk more specifically about our planning efforts here in Georgia. Dawn

19:19

Thank you, Monica. And good morning, everyone. As Monica said, my name is Dwan Peel. I'm the director for the Office of crisis coordination for DBHDD. I've been with the department for over 10 years, and in the behavioral health field for over 25 years. I'm a licensed professional counselor, and a certified professional counselor supervisor in the state of Georgia. And I'm very happy to be with you this morning to talk about what Georgia has been doing to respond to 90 days and plan for its implementation and rollout. So as the state Behavioral Health Authority, DBHDD has taken on the lead, as the agency for it 988 implementation We have a robust internal group that is engaged in a number of different activities and focus areas to plan for the 90 day rollout. But we also recognize the need to get input from the community. And so, over the past year or so, we've gathered a planning coalition and had a number of meetings. The members of the planning coalition are extremely diverse. They include our 911 partners, law enforcement and EMS partners. They include crisis providers, health care providers, advocates, and some of our brother and sister agencies as well. Excellent played this work, this workgroup really dug in and did a great deal of work around those three subject areas that Monica discussed. So they identified system gaps in our current system so that we can work towards improving that, with the rollout of 988. The key features the key themes that are votes on those meetings. Of course, no one's really surprised that workforce shortages is one of the main ones. Our field like many others, in the past several years have experienced significant workforce shortages. And so we're working with state and federal partners to identify best practices to to overcome some of those barriers. They also identified the need for better coordination among the different partners that are involved in this work. I think about 911, and law enforcement, emergency rooms, and other groups that are currently involved in assisting individuals in a behavioral health crisis. And so better coordination among those partners will mean that individuals can be linked to the treatment they need in a more expeditious manner. They also identified the need to standardize policies and procedures, so that they're all in line, and able to meet people's needs. Training on those procedures, as well as as how the system works in general is very important. And then they also identify the need for public awareness about crisis services in general, as well as success stories for people that have experienced a crisis situation and move forward in their recovery not just in the crisis system, but also in the follow up outpatient services as Monica was mentioning earlier, I want to draw your attention here to a statistic. So in FY 21, the Georgia crisis and access line received 275,000, calls, texts and chats. That was a 24% increase from FY 20. And the highest number of calls since the inception of JKL. So before I move in and shift to talking about future projections of our data, I do want to make you aware that these projections were shared with us by our some of our federal partners. And they're based on estimates of what they think could come once 988 starts. What we're going to continue to do as an agency and with our partners is to monitor utilization of 988 as the rollout happens, and after, so that that can inform our planning around building capacity needs. Next slide, please.

23:38

So I mentioned just a moment ago, what our current state was or the state in FY 21, in terms of call volume. And based on the federal projections, we expect that call you call volume is going to double after the rollout of 988. And again, as I said, we recognize the need to be very mindful of monitoring the data so that we can be responsive with adding capacity as needed. Next slide, please. This slide focuses on our mobile crisis services. So again, in FY 21, over 20,000 mobile crisis response, dispatches were made and people receive services. And we expect that number to increase significantly in FY 23. Next slide, please. And the downstream effect, of course of people using 988 and mobile crisis response is that we can anticipate a greater need for community crisis beds. So in FY 21, over 32,000 admission, happened with our Georgia state funded crisis beds, and we expect that that number could double as well. And fy 23. Raise. So I'm going to get it over to Wendy Tiegreen. And thank you for your time today.

25:09

Good morning, everyone. I'm Wendy Tiegreen. And I work for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities as the Director of the Office of Medicaid coordination and health system innovation. I'm a social worker, and I've been with this department for 28 years. And before that actually worked in direct service delivery in community mental health centers. So like, Monica, this has been my my career passion. So I'm so glad to be with all of you today and share this exciting news. As Don was sharing in her past few slides, she was talking about where we are now and there where we've got to go. And so take a look at our current expenditures here. So the citizens of Georgia and our leadership have invested significantly in our crisis services infrastructure over the course of time. And so we we feel like we have a lot of deep and good experience and are grateful to so many of you for some of this work that is going on throughout the course of the years. And even today, so you see pretty a pretty hearty investment 235 million over the three buckets of content that that all of us have been speaking with you about. Next slide, please. And yet, we have miles to go before we sleep. For the future, as Don was talking about the volume increases on each of the the major service delivery lines for for the crisis response system. These are the numbers that we are now looking at in the future for need in our in our next few years in terms of expanding our capacity. So another additional 283 million that we are looking at for needed investment in order to meet the projected demands that are being set forth. And again, these are based on federal projections from SAMSA, and through their vendor who's administering the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. And so we have a significant work to do ahead of us. Next slide. So, actions that we are already taking as an agency. So there are several things that we are working on currently that I'm going to be previewing over the course of the next few slides. And so we really are focused, laser focused on increasing our current capacity and our current agility. And we are doing this quite rapidly. So completed, we've been working on a lot of telehealth solutions and have had the foundation of the massive pivot we all did during the pandemic to strengthen our telehealth technology and to strengthen our use and skills of technology such as this to communicate and engage with individuals. Additionally, we are enhancing our call routing procedures to prioritize the right people being on the phone in the right situations. Again, underway, we have a lot of work underway for the call center technology to again promote access in the fastest and most expeditious way possible, including not just for our call centers, but also the connecting technology that is necessary between the call center and mobile crisis. Next slide. So we are already beginning the new investments in this body of work. And so I think it's important to denote that our state leadership has made a significant commitment in in the knowledge and understanding of what is forthcoming and the federal government and Congress and

29:40

we are all ramping up for those bodies of work as well. And so for our FY 22 budget, you see that there have been significant investments to begin some planning and it growth as well as some direct service work that you see in our FY 23 budget related to our crisis infrastructure, particularly beds and investments in the call center. And then you see federal funding, there have been many grants that have been being released for the for the states in order to begin the foundational expansion that is necessary. And we are most pleased to announce that just this week, there's been a $2.9 million, so almost $3 million that was just awarded to the state. The state of Georgia in particular is the $3 million award so that we can build out further our call center capacity. Next slide. And as Monica indicated, and you will hear from us again, and again, our best approach to mitigating crisis is for individuals to be in service to get preventative and early intervention, before there's a crisis. And when there's a crisis, having a service as infrastructure, post that crisis to continue some stabilization to can continue health and wellness and to promote recovery oriented service supports. So you can see here the significant investment that has been emerging just in the past year, and going forward in terms of our funding that we are committing to the outpatient infrastructure that is so crucial for Georgians. Next slide in and then we are again, already pointing our eyes to the horizon with projecting the demand and capacity needs. So you saw some of the budget work that was being discussed. And if if demand were to happen, the way is projected those budget projections are for the next year. And so thinking about significant demand and capacity needs. So we are studying with rigor, what our use trends will be, we are looking towards the federal standards that are being released this month for what are the expectations around the crisis infrastructure. And they are doing so through what's going to be called a federal playbook or the non ad service capacity, the marketing strategies. So right now, the Federally driven marketing strategy is slated to be rolled out next summer. So 2023, anticipating that states are just beginning the capacity build, which is going to be needed to be responsive to the call volume increases. And of course we are, are significantly impacted by workforce shortages in the behavioral health industry. And so we have a lot of work in investment that is going to be necessary to be sure we have a workforce that can meet these current service delivery needs, crisis stabilization needs and the recovery needs of Georgia citizens. So Monica, I'm gonna kick it to you at this point.

33:40

Thank you, Wendy. And thank you for that very thorough overview. The only other thing I want to add as it relates to this slide is I think it's an important point of discussion. So while the federal legislation not only put non Ad into law, it did also allow for states to implement monthly fees on telecommunication bills, some states have done that they've moved forward to add those fees. But given the variable circumstances around implementation, and the potential implications of asking for additional money from families in the state of Georgia, we've decided to continue to assets to assess actual volume related to the calls that may come in, that will be coming in and to determine how best to really approach of funding, really approach funding this type of long term transformation of Georgia's crisis infrastructure. We have a lot of projections, we have spent a lot of time trying to anticipate what we think will be on the horizon. But with additional time, we will be able to better form that projection and make it into a better ask. And so we have not been a state that has decided to do that until we have Have a little bit more time to really truly assess the impact that is on the horizon for us. Next slide. So, for the sake of time, I'm not going to read everything that's in front of you, you can see this slide in the slides will be available. But as we think about how do we continue to communicate from here, and what that looks like for next steps. So again, we're going to be focusing on keeping the stakeholders informed, gathering input from stakeholders, and continuing to educate about what is coming and what is happening, and also educating traditionally at risk populations. And you'll see some of that outline here in the graphic towards the right. And as again, I feel like it's a great way for me to book in to kind of some of my opening comments, which is, we're going to continue to focus on this work. It is transformational, it is a huge change. And it's going to really impact the behavioral health system of the future. But at the exact same time, we will continue. And we'll need everybody to stay very passionate and diligent around the non crisis parts of the system. There are many ways in which people can be connected to behavioral health supports, and it does not have to happen when one is in crisis. So we want to continue to focus on prevention, we want to continue to making sure that there is also capacity to address and support the needs of individuals prior to the crisis happening. Similar kind of a analogy 911, there are steps that you can take and things you do before it becomes a 911 situation. And we want to continue to emphasize that our system is not just about when you are in crisis. Next slide, please. So of course, I would be remiss if I did not end this with saying so right now, you can contact our GTL lon, if you are experiencing any type of behavioral health crisis, or suicidal ideations or anything under that umbrella, we have that active right now. So you continue to contact G cow at the number there. If you have not done it, it's on my phone. If you have never download the my G cow app, please do. So it is available. And of course, our G cow line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thank you.

37:46

Okay, so that concludes the information we had prepared for you all today. Before we move to q&a, just want to take a moment and say I hope, at least the main takeaway that everyone got today that are not aid planning is a two track system. Of course, we are focusing on enhancing the capacity and the functionality of our call centers, all the way down to our crisis receiving centers. But we will continue to keep our eye on the ball for core outpatient services so that we don't push people to enter the system at the point of crisis for the first time. Now, I want to make sure before we move into q&a that everyone knows where to look for updates after today. This week, we launched nanay de ga.org. The content on this website is being vetted and informed by feedback from a small coalition of our stakeholders. Some of you are on the line today. And I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for your work. And thank you for your feedback. We've already incorporated into some of the website we have so far. Now. Right now we have some very basic information on the website and a set of frequently asked questions that already exists based on what we know. And we will use it today to answer key questions that were provided on the webinar. So we updated after the webinar today. And now we can move into our q&a, which will be moderated by Wendy tag green.

39:28

Hello, everyone. Thanks for the robust dialogue that is in the q&a in the chat. We're so glad to have all of you engaged in this critical process. So several of these, you've asked some of the similar questions, but in it, I'm going to consolidate some of those together so that we are able to get to as many of your questions as possible. So let me offer this one first. So and I'm Don I'm going to point this one towards you. You will And do you DBH CD, I presume plan to launch the marketing campaigns and advertising for the public for 988?

40:13

Thank you, Mandy. So as was mentioned, during the presentation experience is advised the states to hold off on broad marketing for 90 days, at least until July of next year 2023. I think that every state has expressed capacity concerns as we roll out 98 and build the infrastructure. That said, we're going to need targeted education with law enforcement, hospitals, and groups that are traditionally at high risk for suicide, as well as their families in a more hands on personal marketing and referral type approach.

40:56

Thank you, Don. And so for our next question, and there have been several versions of this question is will the G Cal phone number go away? And if so, when? Anna, take that one. Yeah.

41:21

Hi, Wendy. I had to get off mute. I'm Ana Borg. I am the Director of the Office of provider relations and ASO coordination. And I've been in the mental health field for 27 years on a little over Monica, a little less than windy. I'm writing right there. And I've been with gbhdb. For nine years, I have a master's in conflict management. And I'm a Lean Six Sigma black belt so that I haven't been introduced. I want y'all to know who I am and who's answering your questions. Chi cow will continue to operate it's one 800 number for the next foreseeable future. 988 is a augmented service to what's already there. It is a change in the national suicide prevention line. But we will continue to operate the crisis and access line, the one 800 number as well as the text and chat. Those things are not going away with the rollout of 988. They are going to continue to be available to all Georgians as they are now.

42:21

Great. And Anna, if you don't mind just staying on the line. For the next question. Gee cow wait times have been a challenge. Every now and then the past? What? How are you going to manage and consider call volume for the future?

42:40

I am really glad you asked about that. We at dB HDD have been working to reduce the hold times on the current G Cal line. And and have seen some positive results of our work over the last two months 90% of our calls have been answered in less than 60 seconds. And that's been the focus right now is to make sure that we're able to manage the current capacity, you saw the capacity shift over the last year. So we are working on what it will look like for the next capacity shift. So twice as many calls rollout of 988. Well, we're going to work toward exploring how we can partner with other warm lines 911 providers across the state so that we can make sure that that volume gets addressed. There is a five year plan that we're working toward. But again, remember it took a really long time for 911 to be where it is. And so we're in the process we're gonna get there.

43:42

Great, thank you, Anna. I'm going to read this next question, Will this be available to those who are dually diagnosed? Specifically the question I mentioned those with autism. And though the way DHCD is considering this is that a lot of individuals who are in the community don't always have the discernment to know what is a mental health crisis or a substance use crisis or an autism crisis. And so very similarly to how we have considered the Georgia crisis and access line in the past and have allowed those calls to come through for 988. While it's not targeted to those populations in any way we understand that calls will likely route through to 98. And as such nationally, several of the national associations who promote autism treatment and support as well as IDD supports have been partners on a national level with us and so, we will continue to better understand that to instead of a policy around this, and to have ongoing communication, so at night, a call would not be turned away for those individuals, but there would be triage and screening and discernment made by the the call responder to better consider how to mitigate those crises. Okay, so I took that one, right. So we do have the next question, which are, who are some of the stakeholders for the ga 988? Work? So I'll just throw that out. Because it's a that's very broad.

45:41

Yeah, I can, I can take that if you'd like. And y'all feel free to chime in if I missed anyone. So we have a very broad group, we have our partners from 911 law enforcement. We are working with our provider network. We are also working with with private hospitals and our advocacy groups in Georgia. Another main group that we're working with is groups, a group of people that represent some of the high risk populations. And that's really important work that we're doing so that we're ensuring that our our planning for 90 day is inclusive of the needs of those particular groups. So we've convened a large group of stakeholders, partners that represent young people, older adults, veterans, LBGT Q and other types of groups, so that they can inform us in our work. When Deana did I forget any groups.

46:46

I don't think so. Don. Anna, did you think of any additional?

46:52

No, I'm gonna say at all, because I'm sure it's a large group. It's multiple stakeholder groups that we're working with. So just kind of there if we forgot someone, we apologize. We want to be as inclusive as possible and ensure that we're getting as many voices to the table as we can.

47:12

The one other thing I think we should probably highlight is the the Georgia Association to do emergency response 911. The call centers and they have been extraordinary partners with us meeting more regularly with us than the than we should be honored to have them do so it is so significant. Their commitment to this significant partnership that is underway.

47:41

Our planning coalition's live will be available on the not eight ga.org. site that was referenced earlier, after today's webinar.

47:54

Thank you, Monica. Were the full list. Yeah, there's a question about little rural communities have access as well. I can go ahead and take that when team? The answer to that is yes. The law asked all telecommunications vendors to have 90 days active in July of this year. And so when you call 988, it will route to a 98 Call Center, which in in Georgia is the Georgia crisis and access line? So certainly, yes. As long as as you have any kind of telephonic connectivity, you have that capacity to engage with not eight. Um, so here's another question. And this is there's several questions related to this. So let me just, I'm gonna consolidate them in terms of words. But the concerns and questions about like how geolocation if you have an area code, not from Georgia, how is that Cole managed, and the like, so who wants to lean in on that one from our team?

49:18

I can take that. So currently causes the router to the national suicide prevention line and in the future for 988 for the foreseeable future. It is based on your area code. So if your telephone number has an area code, that is not a Georgia area code, then that call would be routed to the call center through the National Suicide Prevention line 988 In the future, to that state. That state would then route that back to us as appropriate and possible. That is a limitation of the current national suicide prevention line. They are looking at technology to be able to use geolocation in the future but that will not be available. of July. That is that is something that we are all working toward at the national level and helping them partner with what that could possibly look like. But that is not going to be available July 1. Or July 16. Sorry.

50:16

And then there's a few questions on what is the age range? And so will it cover all ages? And the answer to that is yes. So I'll go ahead and take that easily. And certainly as we proceed, we are considering with federal leadership related to children's mental health and and, and even other specialty target groups that we've been mentioning before, but there may need to be unique and targeted specialized responses to particular age groups. And so we will be refining our, our tools as we go to work better to support these individuals. So aging population, some of the very specific target populations that we mentioned. So for instance, individuals who may be deaf, and then youth, that particular target group and of course, we we use the text chat capacity in Georgia. It was originally like set forth right thinking that the younger generation uses that capacity a lot more. But we've seen all ages use that technology. But we will continue to refine those specialized responses as we move forward. But yes, available to all ages. Is there a plan for a text option for 988 and app similar to G count lines? So Ana de mon taking that one?

51:58

I do not. There will be a text chat function with 988. It will be 988 you text chat to 90 day you will not need an app to do that. And there was an app some a question earlier about is there an app now in Georgia, there is a magical app, you can do it on on Apple or Android, go to your store, type in magic search magical app. And you can download the text chat app that we currently have in Georgia, but not eight, it will have text chat functionality through the number nine a date. I think that goes live maybe in November. Wendy, I'm not sure if the go live date on the text chat functionality. It will not be delayed but

52:34

right November is what we've heard. So we're planning for 2023 just technology. We're trying to be prudent with our wisdom. We're going to take just a couple more questions and consolidate those just we give ourselves time for some wrap up. The next one is are there plans to increase funding for the pure warm lines? And so I think you heard Monica lean in and say that we're going to have to be highly invested in those. And so we have hopes for for that expansion as we receive additional funding. Monica, I'm not sure if there's anything you want to add to that. Okay. And then finally, there's, I think a great question about in this interim time, right. So we're kind of the launches have been a the rolling the rolling start the beginning of the 988 line is starting in July. And the question is, how do we talk to the individuals we serve now about what number they should call in the event of a crisis?

53:52

Well, I can take that if you'd like. We should inform people to continue to use the Georgia crisis access line, or the current National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number to reach out for services because both of those can can help get them a local response. After the 16th of July, they can use 98 as well. We look at it as a No Wrong Door approach. So any of those numbers that you call will link you to the Georgia crisis and access line here and allow you to seek assistance.

54:29

Well, thank you so much, everyone. There were several other questions coming in furiously right there at the end. And we won't have all the time necessary to get to those today, unfortunately, but know a couple of things from us. The q&a are very important to us because we want all of you to continue to be our informed constituents and so we will be working to answer the questions that have been provided. By you today and provide answers for those in the near future on the website that you see here. So let me just kick it back over at this time for us to begin to wrap up our time together.

55:16

Thank you all again for joining us today as a reminder, and as Wendy just said, key questions asked on today's webinar, and even those that we didn't have time to answer live, will be captured and become a part of our FAQ that 988 ga dot ORG. And of course, if you think of a question after today, you can go to 988 ga.org and use our inquiry form, which is questions at 988 ga.org. That FAQ is responsive, and it will update live on the website with questions and answers as you ask them. So if someone has already asked a question that you have you won't have to wait for an answer, the answer will come to you already. Again, thank you all for joining us today and look for future information from the department as we move toward July. Thank you and have a good day.

DBHDD 988GA Rollout Update Webinar_Final_Slides _04_22_2022.pdf