Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, alongside United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, speaks to the media during Governor Sisolaks Healthcare Provider Summit at the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, April 19, 2022.
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Emergency mental health services in Nevada will be getting a $20 million infusion, thanks to the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act, and the state will hook into a national mental health hotline modeled after the 911 U.S. emergency call number.
The plans were announced Tuesday by Gov. Steve Sisolak and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera during Sisolak’s Healthcare Provider Summit at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Sisolak told those in attendance that he was committing $20 million from Nevada’s share of American Rescue Plan funds to establish a statewide network of crisis stabilization centers to improve access and services for people with mental health crises.
“The stigma associated with mental health needs to be removed. Plain and simple,” Sisolak said at the summit. “With this funding we’ll be able to build the infrastructure needed for emergency behavioral health care statewide.”
Becerra announced the allocation of $1 million in federal funds to launch the 988 mental health hotline in Nevada.
“We want it to be as good as 911 is when it’s time for an emergency,” Becerra said during a media briefing Tuesday. “If you’ve got a mental health challenge. If you’re suffering from serious distress, 988 will be able to help.”
The hotline is currently available 24/7, Becerra said, but it is a seven-digit number that varies by state. The 988 number will be the same across the country to connect people with immediate help. The three-digit hotline is set to launch July 16 in Nevada. For now, those needing help can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
The federal government is providing a total of $105 million out of American Rescue Plan funds for all 50 states and U.S. territories to launch the 988 hotline. Anybody will be able to call the hotline, whether it’s someone experiencing a mental health crisis or someone concerned about a loved one’s mental state.
“If someone’s going to take the time to actually call us instead of the alternative,” Becerra said, “it’s going to be our only chance, and so we should be ready.”
The crisis stabilization centers will provide support for individuals experiencing mental health crises, Sisolak said. They are essentially behavioral health emergency rooms and serve as a final step in the 988 process. If someone calls 988 and is in an especially bad place, a mental health professional may refer the person suffering to a crisis stabilization center, Sisolak’s spokesperson Meghin Delaney said.
“We know that for far too long. individuals seeking mental health care ended up in the emergency room or forgone with requests for help all together,” Sisolak said. “That needs to stop. If you need mental health care, you need to have it available.”
Across the country, Americans struggle with their mental health issues. About every 11 minutes on average, Becerra said, someone in the U.S. dies by suicide, and suicide is hitting the youngest population hard. The U.S. saw an increase of about 42% from the previous year of people who are saying they are “about on the edge,” Becerra said, and it increased by 50% for people under the age of 18.
Nevadans are also struggling. In 2019, when asked if they have seriously considered attempting suicide in the last 12 months, 4.8% of Nevada residents said yes, an increase from 3.5% in 2018, according to the Nevada Bureau of Behavioral Health Wellness and Prevention’s 2021 epidemiologic profile.
While Nevada has a lot of progress to make, the number of suicides in Nevada has gone down in recent years. Nevada ranks 12th nationally for most suicides thus far in 2022, according to a report by Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. In 2019 it ranked seventh. The number of suicides in Nevada has either held steady or decreased in recent years, according to Nevada’s Office of Suicide Prevention while the rest of the country has seen an increase.
“The pandemic has shown us how important equitable and accessible health care is,” Sisolak said. “We have so much more work to do on behalf of Nevadans and I know, I know, that we can do it together.”
The American Rescue Plan Act provided a total of $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 stimulus funds across the country. It was passed by both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate without the support of a single Republican lawmaker and signed into law by President Joe Biden in March of this year.
