By Caity Coyne, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginians struggling with mental health challenges are urged to remember just three numbers that can get them connected to trained professionals for help whenever they need it: 988.
The new crisis line went live in the state July 16 and, as of last week, officials with the Department of Health and Human Resources announced the transition to the three-digit line was successfully completed.
“This is something we’ve been doing for a long time,” said Christina Mullins, commissioner for the DHHR Bureau for Behavioral Health. “When the decision was made to go to a three-digit format, West Virginia was in a really good position already.”
Through grants to the bureau, the state had been funding the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for “a long time,” Mullins said, and First Choice Services — the company the state contracts with to work a number of its help lines — was already coordinating the service…
