Raw Story: $7M deficit forces thousands of calls to Texas' suicide hotline to be abandoned each month

[Dennis Donovan]

Raw Story - $7M deficit forces thousands of calls to Texas’ suicide hotline to be abandoned each month

Stephen Simpson, Texas Tribune
January 6, 2025 6:31AM ET

"Amid a $7 million deficit to Texas’ suicide hotline, thousands of calls are abandoned monthly" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Thousands of Texans in need are abandoning the state’s suicide hotline mid-call every month as call centers struggle under a $7 million funding deficit and a growing suicide rate statewide.

The 988 number — a federally mandated, state-run service that connects callers to crisis counselors — fills an essential niche in the behavioral health care system because it gives catered mental health services in an emergency where 911 might not be appropriate. The hotline has been used thousands of times in two years, but its federal funding is declining, and with a workforce shortage, the system is starting to bend under the demand.

“To be very clear, we’re doing way more work than we’ve ever been able to do,” said Jennifer Battle, supervisor of the 988 system at the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD. “If you want us actually to meet the volume of Texas, then somebody’s got to decide to increase the resources that are made available to centers so that we can increase the number of people we serve.”

Since launching in 2022, Texas’ five centers that answer calls to the 988 suicide hotline have received more than 380,000 calls, the second highest call volume in the nation, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness Texas. One-third of them occurred from January to June of this year.

/snip

Texas Standard - At least 17 Texas National Guardsman have died patrolling the southern border, including several suicides

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has mobilized thousands of National Guard troops to the southern border over the past three years to deter illegal migration. The mobilization has taken a toll on some soldiers.

Orders were issued. Soldiers were told to pack up and get mission ready. They were mobilized to the U.S.-Mexico border.

For all of them, their lives and professions were paused. But for some of them, their sacrifices were greater.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021. It has been at the heart of his effort to deter illegal immigration, and it has received support from President-elect Donald Trump and other conservative leaders.

However, since the mission began, at least 17 Texas National Guardsmen have died from various causes. The deaths include at least seven suicides, two accidental shootings, and two motor vehicle accidents. One guardsman drowned while attempting to save migrants who were crossing the Rio Grande.

Officials with the Texas Military Department disclosed the death toll during a hearing of the Texas House Committee on Defense and Veterans Affairs in August. The department did not respond to a request for comment about the deaths or the conditions of the mobilization.

/snip

Will Bunch‬ ‪
@willbunch.bsky.social‬
1h
A state that has wasted $11 billion -- $11 billion!! -- on "border security" which a) is a federal job, not theirs and b) slashes refugees w/ razor wire and causes migrant drownings can't find $7 million to stop its citizens from killing themselves

‪Raw Story‬ ‪
@rawstory.com‬
2h

Will Bunch
‪@willbunch.bsky.social‬
Ironically, there's been a number of suicides, and other mental-health problems, for the National Guard troops that Gov. Greg Abbott uses to wage his inhumane war on refugees
January 6, 2025 at 7:01 AM

https://bsky.app/profile/willbunch.bsky.social/post/3lf33kkm5j22a

[evemac]

1. "Due to a lack of Medicaid reimbursement"

Texas refused ACA expansion in the state in 2023 and effectively cut off its own funding.
https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-medicaid-unwinding-consequences

[Clouds Passing]

2. Scabbott delights in deaths of others

[dalton99a]

3. Texas' budget SURPLUS for the 2024 fiscal year is $32.7 BILLION.