Do you have an experience with mental health crisis response?

Too often, people experiencing a mental health crisis don’t get the right services at the right time. One in four people killed by police have a mental illness. People with mental illness are booked into jails two million times every year. Over forty-five thousand people died by suicide in 2020.

To prevent these tragedies, we need a crisis system that provides a mental health response to mental health crises, and we need your help to make this system a reality in our community.

In 2020, Congress passed a new law to make 988 the nationwide three-digit number for mental health crisis and suicide prevention, which went live in every community in July 2022. What services and help area available to someone who calls for help? Our state needs to work quickly to build our 988 crisis response system to be able to effectively respond to mental health crisis calls and change how we respond to people experiencing mental health crises.

NAMI Delaware is calling for our state to include three key elements in an ideal crisis response system:

• 24/7 local crisis call centers, so when someone calls 988, they are connected to people who are trained to effectively help people in crisis – and connect them to additional local care or resources.
• Mobile crisis teams that can travel to a person in crisis to de-escalate the situation, arrange transportation to crisis stabilization, or connect people to other services and supports.
• Crisis stabilization programs that have the capacity to diagnose, provide initial stabilization and observation, and ensure a warm hand-off to appropriate follow-up care – all in a welcoming, home-like environment.

Your story can help policymakers understand why we must act now to change our crisis response system.

Help power our advocacy with your mental health crisis story.

Thank you for sharing your story. By completing this form, you agree that NAMI Delaware may use your story (in any part, full or edited) for the purpose of advocacy. This may include sharing your story with the media, using your story in alerts or in letters to elected officials. NAMI Delaware will only use your first name and last initial for identification purposes. You also agree that NAMI Delaware may reach out to you with follow-up questions or for clarification. If you or somebody you know is in a mental health crisis, text “HOME” to 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.