988 cooperative - the nevada department of health and human services (dhhs), division of public and behavioral health (dpbh), bureau of behavioral health wellness and prevention (bhwp), which serves…

988 cooperative - the nevada department of health and human services (dhhs), division of public and behavioral health (dpbh), bureau of behavioral health wellness and prevention (bhwp), which serves as the nevadas mental health authority is applying for the FY 2022 cooperative agreement to build capacity for nevadas 988 program in collaboration with the crisis support services of nevada (CSS-NV), nevadas only lifeline member organization. Cssnv has been providing a crisis hotline in nevada since 1966 and is one of only 9 national suicide prevention lifeline call centers in the nation. For over 4 decades, dpbh and cssnv have enjoyed a long-standing relationship based on the shared commitment and vision to ensure every nevadan has the lifeline available to them during times of crisis. Over the past several years, the relationship between dpbh and CSS-NV has included efforts to increase capacity for both in-state answer rates for call and text through additional staffing, increased awareness of the crisis line through media and messaging campaigns, enhanced data collection and reporting for cssnv crisis lines, expanded opportunities for referral to services and follow-up with case management. Of these efforts, expansion of the cssnv workforce has and remains a primary need to meet both current and future 988 response for crisis calls and texts and appropriate follow up. The addition of a chat feature for the crisis line is a needed feature and is addressed in the 988 implementation plan. Workforce expansion has been funded, in part through the lifeline capacity expansion grant, crisis counseling assistance and training program (CCP), community mental health services block grant, state general fund. Current workforce expansion funding includes CDC health disparities grant, samhsa covid supplemental block grant, and mental health block grant. Most recently, the vibrant 988 planning grant supported dpbh, cssnv, and the statewide 988 planning coalition to evaluate cssnvs current capacity to answer in-state crisis calls, chats, texts, project in-state calls, chats and texts over the first two years of 988 implementation and to develop an implementation plan to meet all of the 988 implementation plan requirements including key performance indicators (kpis) such as 90% in state answer rate and speed for call answering under 20 seconds. The 988 implementation plan identified an immediate need to address the significant shortfall of funding to address the staffing shortages needed to increase answer rates from 74.5% in 2021 to 90% and to reduce call wait times from 35 seconds to 20 seconds.