Dial 988!

May was, and each year is, Mental Health Awareness month. It’s likely that you weren’t aware of that. I wasn’t. But now I am, because of two events. First, was the PBS release of a documentary, “Hiding in Plain Sight.” The second was the rollout of 988, a national mental health hotline.

“Hiding” is a moving look into the lives of 20 young people who have experienced – are experiencing – mental illness. Their stories are powerful.

These young people, whom you will come to know and likely come to care for, have a truly amazing ability to understand and convey to us the dimensions and depths of their illnesses. If you are able to hear, see, feel their stories, I believe you will be changed. It’s available on PBS and Netflix and probably other streaming services. Or maybe you’ll be able to find it at the library.

988 we hope will become a ready resource (dial, text, or chat) and accessible pathway for those in crisis, young and older, to what “Hiding” makes clear: In crisis there is a pressing and immediate need for sympathetic and trained listeners.

On many accounts, these are very troubling times in our very fractionated nation and culture. The times are challenging for most young people who are struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong in this fraught time. What is a common struggle for most young people is made into a crisis for those who have the additional challenge of clinical depression or of the various presentations of mental illness.

988 is not perfect. The challenges are substantial. The funding and staffing are inadequate. Many in their crisis moments will reach sympathetic and trained staff and, at least for the moment, be helped. Some times their calls will not go through.

Bob Raymond

La Conner