When You Can’t Wait for a Therapy Appointment, Call 988

I talk about men­tal health a lot because high-per­form­ing lead­ers con­stant­ly face the harsh real­i­ties of busi­ness and the curve­balls of life. That puts them at high­er risk for men­tal health issues, which makes well­ness a must-have skill for success.

And, soon­er or lat­er, every­one strug­gles with their men­tal health.

So, I’m very hap­py to hear about the launch of a Cana­di­an 988 sui­cide cri­sis helpline.

Any­one, of any age, can con­fi­den­tial­ly call or text, toll-free, ²⁴⁄₇ if they are think­ing about sui­cide or are wor­ried about some­one else.

Led by the Cen­tre for Addic­tion and Men­tal Health (CAMH) and fund­ed by the Pub­lic Health Agency of Cana­da (PHAC), the ser­vice is designed to make it as sim­ple as pos­si­ble for peo­ple to get the help they need. The 988 hot­line is built on and mir­rors a sim­i­lar 988 Sui­cide & Cri­sis Life­line launched in the US 18 months ago.

No mat­ter where in the world you are, you can always search for men­tal health help or a men­tal health hot­line and there will be a resource available.

4500 Cana­di­ans die by sui­cide every year. (CAMH)

21% of U.S. adults expe­ri­enced a men­tal health con­di­tion in 2020.

The impact depres­sion and anx­i­ety have on the glob­al econ­o­my can be mea­sured in $1 tril­lion in lost pro­duc­tiv­i­ty each year.

World­wide, due to the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, the num­ber of anx­i­ety and depres­sive dis­or­ders grow 28% and 25% respectively.

(Forbes​.com)

How 988 Works

• Peo­ple can call or text mul­ti­ple times, depend­ing on the sup­port they need.
• First, a brief record­ed mes­sage plays to let you know you are in the right place, with options to choose for the best sup­port needed.
• A mes­sage about pri­va­cy fol­lows, and a link to pro­vide more option­al information.
• Then, an empa­thet­ic, spe­cial­ly trained respon­der is avail­able to give imme­di­ate assis­tance and do a sui­cide risk assessment.
• 911 is only con­tact­ed if there is an imme­di­ate or immi­nent risk of the per­son seri­ous­ly harm­ing them­selves or some­one else.

Most peo­ple wait way too long to get help. What they don’t under­stand is that most men­tal health issues are com­plete­ly fix­able, and with the right sup­port, there are ways to cope and restore men­tal resilience.

Oth­er Resources

• CEO Burnout: A Per­son­al Story
• An Inter­view with One of Us Who Had a Very Close Call With Men­tal Health
• The Psy­cho­log­i­cal Price of Entrepreneurship
• How to Dis­cuss Burnout with Your Team
• Man­ag­ing Your Men­tal Health in Tur­bu­lent Times