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NCDHHS Receives Grant for 988 Suicide Prevention Lifeline Preparation

AP Photo/Jenny Kane

North Carolina has been awarded a grant that will allow the state to implement a new 3-digit suicide prevention hotline.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is scheduled to switch to 988 in July 2022.  Congress has established the 988 number as a simplified resource for individuals in crisis who need support.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has received a grant totaling nearly $130,000 earmarked for implementing the new Lifeline number.

Kody Kinsley is Deputy Secretary for Behavioral Health & Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities with the department. Kinsley says NCDHHS will partner with the North Carolina Suicide Prevention Call Center, state leaders, and other officials to ensure a successful rollout of the 988 number.

According to a news release from NCDHHS, preliminary data for 2020 show that more than 37,000 callers received crisis intervention and referrals. That's an almost 12% increase from 2019.

The department says that those currently in need of support should continue to use the existing Lifeline number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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