The 988 line will provide residents experiencing suicidal or behavioral health crises with “someone to call” and mobile crisis response teams will provide “someone to respond”. It is critical that we also have resources to provide “somewhere to go” when an individual’s crisis cannot be immediately resolved within the community.

These resources include Early Intervention Support Services (EISS) in each county, peer-run respites, and proposed voluntary crisis stabilization centers. Crisis stabilization centers will be warm hand-off facilities with staff trained to provide on-site crisis de-escalation services, (including voluntary short-term observation and stabilization) and will engage people with follow-up care and connect them to services. In addition, New Jersey’s Psychiatric Emergency Screening Services (PESS) are utilized to handle crises involving safety concerns or potentially dangerous situations.

As 988 becomes operational, our remaining job is to enhance our state’s existing community-based resources to complete New Jersey’s continuum of behavioral health crisis care and connect people to in-person treatment in a timely and effective manner.

To learn more about 988 from the perspective of the NJ Department of Human Services, please visit: https://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmhas/initiatives/988/index.html.

Last Updated: 12/10/23