WSW Spearheads Efforts to Secure Funding for National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

In Brief

Spearheaded major reforms to the nation’s mental health crisis response system, culminating in the successful launch of the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Secured the highest funding level ever for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and co-founded a coalition of over 25 organizations to strengthen crisis response systems and secure sustainable funding.
Established the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization as the leading authority on crisis care implementation through strategic congressional engagement, appropriations advocacy, and thought leadership.

Beginning our work in early 2021 amid a significant increase in mental health challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic, WSW immediately launched an aggressive advocacy effort on behalf of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Despite the federal appropriations process already being well underway, we quickly secured a critical opportunity for NAMI to testify before the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee. This swift action and compelling testimony led to the highest funding level ever for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and confirmed NAMI’s status as the mental health community’s “gold standard” in the eyes of key congressional leaders, reinforcing its standing in a crowded advocacy space.

As the date approached to change from the National Suicide Hotline to the three-digit 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, WSW helped elevate NAMI’s role as the leading voice for ensuring a smooth and orderly transition. As part of this effort, WSW helped establish and continues to manage the Federal 988 Crisis Care Group, a coalition of more than a dozen leading mental health organizations focused on successful implementation and operation of 988. WSW worked with the coalition to successfully coalesce around the shared goals of ensuring 988 becomes a complete crisis call hub and securing the sustainable funding necessary for a full continuum of care. WSW continues to provide strategic counsel, recommended actions, and key insights for this group.

This leadership role has positioned NAMI as the central thought leader and a trusted messenger on crisis care implementation, expanding its influence beyond Capitol Hill. WSW identified and forged a partnership with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an unconventional but now critical partner in the 988 transition. We prepared NAMI to represent the entire mental health community at a high-profile FCC forum on the complex geolocation and privacy issues surrounding 988. Through this comprehensive strategy of appropriations advocacy, coalition leadership, and multi-agency engagement, WSW has helped cement NAMI’s status as the leading authority on mental health crisis response policy in the nation.