-Welcome to Nevada Week .

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

The White House says the country is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis.

And in Nevada, suicide rates rose among two specific age groups.

We're going to explore why with our panel of experts ahead, but first, an update on the rollout of 9-8-8 in Nevada.

The mental health hotline helps people who are experiencing suicidal thoughts.

And for those who may be sensitive to discussions on suicide, please be aware this is our show topic.

988 launched last year, and the State and Crisis Support Services of Nevada, or CSSNV, are responsible for implementing it.

CSSNV has operated as a crisis call center in Nevada since 1966.

And its Executive Director, Rochelle Pellissier, joins us now from Reno, where the call center is based.

Rochelle, let's launch right into this.

988 launched in July 2022.

What kind of response have you seen in terms of how many people are utilizing this hotline?

-Well, tremendous response.

Now, just so for history, 988 actually comes into the same line as what was known as the Suicide Prevention Lifeline before July 16.

It was a 10-digit 800 number that we use nationally to get ahold of crisis centers.

So when 988 launched, that line went directly into with that, that lifeline.

So we've really been answering those calls for 30 years.

It's just that the new three-digit number launched officially on July 16.

So that allowed us to compare the increase in volume that we got in Nevada, and it-- the first weekend, because everyone was trying it out, it launched on July 16, which was a Saturday last year.

So the first weekend, because there was a lot of media around it, it increased volume by about 45%.

But after that, in the last eight months, that's reduced to about an increase in 30% in calls only.

The other thing that 988 did was provide a place to do text and chat, which did go live for us for Nevadans on July 16.

And that added another 10% to 12% volume to the overall crisis care volume.

-Let's talk in-state answer rates.

We spoke about this on the phone.

But there was the Kaiser Family Foundation Report which recorded in-state answer rates in the month of December-- collected that data, compared them to other states across the country.

And in that month of December 2022, Nevada had one of the lowest 988 in-state answer rates, with 65% of calls made in Nevada actually being answered by someone physically in Nevada.

For a perspective, Alabama had the lowest rate at 51%.

Rhode Island and Mississippi, the highest in-state answer rate at 98%.

When I asked you about that report on a phone call, you expressed frustration.

You thought it was an inaccurate representation.

Why?

-Because answer rates go up and down monthly and sometimes drastically.

Our average answer rate currently is about 75% of those in-state calls that we answer.

Also those answer rates are based on a system where you call from Nevada, it goes to the organization who oversees this whole system, Vibrant, you get a 50-second message with lots of different options of buttons to push, and then you come to us.

And we have found that a lot of times-- You know, 50 seconds in a crisis is really a, is a lifetime, unfortunately.

So sometimes by that 50 seconds, you know, they might just be finally getting to us, but they've dropped off because they can't wait anymore or whatever is going on in the crisis.

And they may call back, or they may not.

But we're finding that that initial 50 seconds is cutting off a lot of the people getting to us in the end.

And again, you know, what we found is also Vibrant's data is, especially for the last three months of last year, was about 7% lower than what we show our answer rates are.

-When you talked about the 50 seconds, people are having to wait 50 seconds to get in touch with someone?

-To get to us, yeah.

It's a "press 1 if you're a vet, press 2 of you're Spanish speaking, press 3 if you're..." But that whole thing takes 50 seconds before they're even transferred to the appropriate state and appropriate call center.

So that is something we've been working on at a national level with Vibrant and with SAMHSA, because that really needs to be reduced.

-So you said a 75% answer rate is what you're averaging right now.

Is that a good number for you?

Is that acceptable?

-It's not, but it's all based on how much funding we have to hire staff.

We were at 75% before 988 went live, and that really just covers that increase of volume of 30% to keep answering those calls.

And staying at 75% is amazing.

So, no.

Is that what we want to be at?

Absolutely not.

We want to be at 90-95%, but until the State comes up with what they talked about, you know, when you contacted them, that RFP and that program to pay us sufficiently for all of the, all of the services, 75% is what we can do right now.

-I want to talk about the plan to fund 988.

There is a plan, it's just not enacted right now.

In the state, it involves charging a fee on phone lines of 35 cents per month.

But the original legislation had a loophole where it left out charging cell phones.

So now in the State Senate, there is a bill that would include cell phones for that charge.

If it's not closed, though, if that bill does not go through, the State would need to, quote, scale back crisis prevention programs significantly.

That is according to the Legislative Council Bureau's Fiscal Analysis Division.

Scaling back crisis prevention programs significantly, what do you think when you hear that may be a possibility?

-Well, that's unfortunate, you know, and we'll have to figure out how to fund it a different way at a state level.

So that's not something I can control at all.

All I can do is, we can do, is answer the phones and do the best we can with the levels of funding that we have right now.

Hopefully, we'll get this figured it out.

It has taken the State a couple of years since the initial funding, and we're still not through an RFP process to really solidify and fund the call center and other services effectively.

-It could take some time.

-And it will.

It absolutely will take some time.

And 988 is-- You know, when 911 started 40 years ago, it was new too.

It was a newfangled thing, you know, and we had to figure out how to fund it.

And it's taken 40 years to really get to a place where they are now.

This is a new system, a vital system, and it's not going to be perfect overnight by any stretch of the imagination.

And all the states have to figure out how to fund their 988 system.

We were one of the five states that actually put legislation in place for that fee.

And that was a big thing across the nation.

-It makes it a little ironic that now it is up in the air.

The last question for you: That bill did pass through the Senate Finance Committee with two Republicans reportedly voting no.

What would your message to lawmakers be who are considering still voting no when this legislation advances?

-It was not "no" to the funding 988 call hub.

I believe they voted no because they were concerned about funding other services, such as crisis stabilization centers and mobile teams, if I'm not mistaken.

But I wasn't there.

So, you know, I think that it will go through.

It will depend on what they're going to cover with these fees.

-You are correct in that aspect.

And those are further rollouts of the 988 plan.

But as you and I mentioned-- -Exactly.

-And as the State has mentioned, those are in the process of being worked out right now, but doesn't sound like anywhere in the near future will we have mobile crisis response teams or crisis stabilization centers.

Do you agree with that?

-Yes.

It will take a couple of years to get that.

Now, they do have, if I'm not mistaken, the State does have a contract with Renown now to build out that one crisis stabilization center.

And as you, as you can imagine, someone to answer the phone in a system is not a system.

Yes, that's important, but you have to have all of the other pieces of a system in order to, for us to refer people out to appropriate services, you know, after we get them out of the crisis.

-Right.

-So without that, it's not a system.

It's a place where you can call, but not get the services you need.

-That's where it stands right now.

There's a place you can call, but there's not a mobile crisis response team to come out.

And there is not a crisis stabilization center to go to instead of an emergency room.

Rachelle Pellissier, thank you so much for your time.

-Thank you so much.

It's a pleasure to speak to you.