The federal government recently ended its specialized suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth. Previously, callers could press 3 when they called the national suicide and crisis lifeline to be connected with counselors who were specifically trained to help queer youth. Now, all calls will be directed to the general 988 hotline.
Lines for Life operates several crisis hotlines in Oregon, including a dedicated YouthLine. It also answers the majority of 988 calls made in the state. Greg Borders, the organization’s chief clinical officer, joins us to talk about the end of this hotline and the suicide prevention resources still available to LGBTQ+ communities.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can call or text 988 to reach the national suicide and crisis lifeline. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. The federal government recently ended its specialized suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth. For the last three years, callers could press 3 when they call the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and be connected with counselors who are specially trained to help queer youth. Now, all calls will be directed to the general 988 hotline.
Lines for Life operates several crisis hotlines in Oregon and answers the majority of 988 calls made in the state. Greg Borders is the organization’s chief clinical officer. He joined us recently. I started by asking him what happened starting three years ago when the LGBTQ+ hotline went live.
Greg Borders: So in the summer of 2022, 988 rolled out nationwide. It used to be the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and it became 988 because it’s an easier number that people could call into. And at that time, they already had in existence a press 1 option, which was for the Veterans Crisis Line. And because LGBT, queer youth are at such a high risk for suicide, it was decided that we should have a specialty line for that population. So that’s when we started the press 3 option of 988.
Miller: And what would happen if somebody called and pressed 3?
Borders: So someone called and pressed 3, they likely were looking for somebody who was proficient, empathetic, compassionate and understanding of issues that LGBT youth might be calling about. So they would reach a counselor. That counselor would have had really good training around how to talk to folks around the issues that might be presenting. They would be very well versed in what resources are available. And that person would be guaranteed that they would have a call taker who really was eager to hear their story and help them figure out what they want to do next.
Miller: How much higher is suicide risk among LGBTQ youth than among young people as a whole?
Borders: It’s very disproportionately higher. I believe the recent studies show that that population is four times more likely. So there are a lot of good reasons why having a special line made a lot of sense.
Miller: Is there evidence that having a specialty line, having people receive crisis care that is specific to their experience, that that makes a difference?
Borders: I’m not sure what studies have come out. But I will tell you that the Veterans Crisis Line was the first specialty line that was created, maybe a decade ago, actually longer than that. And we know from experience working on that line – and Lines for Life used to answer calls on the Veterans Crisis Line – it absolutely makes a difference.
A lot of people are not sure if they should call 988. They don’t know if they fit what 988 maybe is looking for. And by putting it out there to the world, “hey, there’s a press 3 option that is specifically for queer and trans youth,” that makes the queer and trans youth feel really comfortable and much more confident knowing, “if I call this line, I’m gonna reach somebody that’s gonna care about me, that’s not gonna judge me, that’s gonna understand the issues that I’m calling about.”
So like I said, we saw its effectiveness with the Veterans Crisis Line and I believe that’s why the press 3 option was created, kind of based on that model.
Miller: How often was this press 3 option used nationwide, and in Oregon in particular?
Borders: It was used a lot. So since its inception three years ago, there were over 1.3 million calls, texts – they provided text as well. In Oregon, we think it’s around 450 queer and trans youth Oregonians calling in. So it’s a pretty significant number.
Miller: What communication did you receive from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations, a federal agency that administers these hotlines, about the press 3 option ending?
Borders: We received notification around mid-June, stating that the press 3 option was going to end mid-July. It just basically said that it’s going away.
Miller: That was it.
Borders: Primarily that was that, yeah. There wasn’t a big explanation that we received from SAMSHA as to why it was going away.
Miller: And just to be clear, they didn’t decide the same thing for the veterans hotline, right?
Borders: That is correct.
Miller: Jaymes Black, who is a CEO of The Trevor Project, which had been one of the nonprofits that administered the service, said this in a statement: “This is devastating, to say the least. The administration’s decision to remove a bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible.”
Did this come as a surprise to you? Or were you expecting it based on other policies and rhetoric put forward by the administration?
Borders: We had heard in the spring that there was a possibility that it might be going away. At that time, we were hoping that there were enough checks and balances that would have to go through Congress, it would be a big thing for it to go away. So we were hoping that maybe it wouldn’t go away. But it did. And am I surprised? No, I’m not terribly surprised.
Miller: It’s apropos of that, at this point, very recognizable acronym. And apropos of what you said earlier, that this has been so important for queer and trans youth. It’s notable that in the announcement from the federal government, the T for transgender and Q for queer [in LGBTQ] were omitted in their communication. What message do you think the administration was intending to send by doing that?
Borders: It’s really hard for me to say because there never was an explanation for it. I noticed it. I think most of our partners noticed it. It was upsetting to see the T for trans being omitted. I assume it was intentional, but I don’t know specifically why.
Miller: Since all calls that come in are now going to be going to the general 988 line, what does the end of this specialized hotline, that was often sent out to other organizations who would actually then answer those calls, going to mean for your call volume or your staffing?
Borders: We will definitely see an increase in calls. We figure 450 Oregonian queer and trans youth are calling the line each month, so that’s a pretty big jump for our call volume. So we are working on staffing up and making sure that we are ready to handle that volume.
The one thing I really want to say loud and clear however is that Lines for Life, we’ve been around for 30 years, and we have talked to queer and trans youth the whole time we’ve been in existence. It has always been a really large part of our training curriculum, in part because they do have disproportionately high risk factors around suicide and substance abuse. So for us, it’s really more around staffing up to make sure we’ve got the folks ready to take the calls – and I think we do. We didn’t have to retrain, we didn’t have to learn resources, we already knew all of that. We operate a youth line, we have lots and lots and lots of queer and trans youth that call that line every day.
So we’re ready. And I just hope that the queer youth that hear about press 3 going away, that they can hear me saying we want you to call us. We will deliver the best, most compassionate, educated and well-resourced service available. We’re ready for you and we want to be there for you. We’re here 24/7. So just know that 988, and here in Oregon, we want you to call. You are welcome.
Miller: Do people have options right now if they specifically want to speak to someone with a background in LGBTQ+ services, or a number that is explicitly for this population?
Borders: Yes, that does still exist. Long before 988 came around and long before press 3 was an option, The Trevor Project is a telephone and text line that is specifically for LGBT. And it has been around a long time, they do a great job and that is still available. I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t continue to be available. They’re very dedicated to providing crisis services to LGBT youth.
Miller: The general number that people can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year, it’s 988. The Trevor Project is 1-866-488-7386.
Greg Borders, thanks very much.
Borders: Thank you so much for having me.
Miller: Greg Borders is the chief clinical officer for Lines for Life.
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