Everyone knows what number to call if an emergency is happening: 911. But we've seen in the news, that calling 911 for a mental health emergency isn't always the best idea. So where do you turn in that scenario? Well, the new answer is 988.
Phone companies will be required to transition the current mental health emergency hotline (1-800-273-TALK) to be accessible via 988. Through this number, Americans experiencing a mental health crisis will have access to the help they need.
To tell us more about the need for an accessible mental health line is Dr. Margie Balfour. She is a psychiatrist and national leader in quality improvement and behavioral health crisis care. Dr. Balfour the is Chief of Quality and Clinical Innovation at Connections Health Solutions And an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona.
Dr. Balfour is also a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and serves on the Quality-of-Care Council.
Selected Podcast
A New Mental Health Crisis Phone Number: 988
Featuring:
Dr. Margie Balfour
Dr. Margie Balfour is a psychiatrist and national leader in quality improvement and behavioral health crisis care. She is Chief of Quality and Clinical Innovation at Connections Health Solutions And an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona. Dr. Balfour was named Doctor of the Year by the National Council for Behavioral Health for her work at the Crisis Response Center in Tucson and received the Tucson Police Department’s medal of honor for helping law enforcement better serve people with mental illness. She contributes to expert panels for SAMHSA and the DOJ. Her pioneering work on crisis metrics has been adopted as a national standard, and she co-authored Roadmap to the Ideal Crisis System: Essential Elements, Measurable Standards, and Best Practices.
Dr. Balfour is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and serves on the Quality-of-Care Council. A native of Monroe, Louisiana, Dr. Balfour earned a BA in Biology at Johns Hopkins University followed by her MD and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati. She completed her residency and fellowship in Community Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.