In June, the Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration announced the discontinuation of press 3 option, which provided dedicated resources and support for LGBTQIA+ callers to the 988 crisis line. Volunteers of America of Western Washington, which operates 988 services in 32 of 39 counties in Washington state, including Kitsap County, hasn’t seen a decrease in the community’s need.

In November, VOAWW received 7,783 988 calls statewide, and 428 calls in Kitsap County. The Salish Regional Crisis line, which VOAWW also operates, received 1,235 calls, Reid Johnson, VOAWW program coordinator for 988, said.

VOAWW has roughly 55,988 crisis counselors and 34 crisis counselors on the Salish Regional Crisis Line, Johnson said. Staffing typically includes between 4-12 crisis counselors between both services per shift, and the most common heavy call volume periods are evenings between 5 p.m.-10 p.m. and 1 p.m.- 10 p.m. on weekends.

The National Suicide & Prevention Hotline was first established in 2005, in which VOAWW was a participant. In 2020, the National Suicide Designation Act was signed into law, which required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to designate 988 as a universal number for a suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.

“SAMHSA recognizes that support for 988 and related crisis services is an opportunity to address our nation’s long-standing problem with access to mental health crisis services,” per a 2021 988 appropriations report.

Removal of press 3 option

Johnson said VOAWW didn’t directly provide crisis counselors for the press 3 option; instead, these calls would be routed to specifically trained counselors at call centers across the U.S., including non-profit The Trevor Project, which estimated 1.5 million LGBTQIA+ youth nationwide could be impacted.

VOAWW previously operated a national LGBTQIA+ chat and text subnetwork, which comprised roughly 60 staff members who were laid off.

“So for us, the press 3 option goes away, but those calls don’t go away. Now people are just being routed to regular 988 phones which does mean that you still have Washington callers that may have been looking for that press 3 option who are still in Washington, but now being routed to us,” he said.

Since the July removal of the press 3 option, Johnson said the organization aims to help all callers regardless of their identity.

“We tried as best we could to provide the current staff with the same training that the staff who supported the LGBTQIA+ chat program had, as far as working with people in the community”, he said. “The mission and supporting everyone at risk of suicide remained unchanged despite closing that section of the service,” he said.

The Trevor Project CEO released the following statement in July following the discontinuation of the press 3 services:

“This administration has made a dangerous decision to play politics with real young people’s lives. The 988 Lifeline’s Specialized Services Program was created to serve Americans at highest risk for suicide — including veterans and LGBTQ+ youth — with best-practice crisis care that meets these populations’ unique needs. The program was created with overwhelming bipartisan support because, despite our political differences, we should all agree that every young person’s life is worth saving. I am heartbroken that this administration has decided to say, loudly and clearly, that they believe some young people’s lives are not worth saving. I want every LGBTQ+ young person to know that you are worthy, valued, and loved exactly as you are. No matter what the federal government says or does, you have millions of people — all across the country — in your corner, and we are here to support you, always.”

Johnson said, despite the discontinuation of the 988 press 3 option, VOAWW doesn’t plan to change services offered to the public.

“There are no current plans to change or reduce 988 or Salish Regional Crisis Line services. 988 and the Salish Regional Line continue to work together as partners in the mental health system. The state of Washington utilizes a no wrong door approach, where a community member who is seeking services can access them no matter the entry point. Both regional crisis lines and 988 are part of that approach and work hand in hand in helping community members gain access to the crisis services that they need,” he said.

Johnson said no crisis line services were directly impacted by the recent federal government shutdown, adding, “however, the usage of crisis services does often increase during these times due to the reduction of other government services, which often causes or plays a role in someone’s overall stability,” he said.

“There’s been a lot of concern about people calling and searching for the press 3 option that are really specifically looking to talk to someone who has lived experience, because that was often the case when you use that option, you were going to talk to someone who existed in that same community, who had lived experience. And so the fear that option no longer exists, I think, has probably been one of the larger reactions,” he said. “So, we’re trying to the best that we can to reassure people that in some ways a crisis is a crisis, and we’re here to help anybody, regardless of the community that they’re in, and that we certainly are not going to judge or treat somebody differently because of who they are.”

Crisis training

Johnson said crisis counselors receive between 250-300 hours of training, which includes a mix of textbook and hands-on scenario-based training. Johnson shared some of the differences between 988 and Salish Regional Crisis Line services.

“If you think of our behavioral health department as a tree, our behavioral health department has different branches. So 988 phones is one of the branches. The Salish Regional Crisis Line is another branch, and then there’s other programs that are other branches. So we are under the same employer and umbrella, however, they’re operated by different employees. So it’s different people in different programs.”

Johnson said 988 doesn’t currently have the ability to dispatch mobile crisis teams to evaluate those in crisis, adding, “that’s done solely through the regional crisis line.” He said the Salish Regional Crisis Line doesn’t currently have LGBTQIA+ specific resources similar to the previous 988 press 3 option. Regarding privacy concerns, Johnson said 988 callers can also be anonymous, and what information a caller provides can be based on what they may be comfortable sharing, adding, “We do not push for that information unless it’s absolutely necessitated by an imminent risk situation,” he said.

“We want to mold the call to what the client needs in whatever way possible. Now, there are times when we can’t do that, and that’s very specifically involving imminent risk situations where somebody is directly stating that they are going to harm themselves or somebody else. And in those situations, we do have to do our best to gather information and try to get a police response out there,” he said. “The mental health teams in Washington state, as great as they are, often cannot respond anywhere instantaneously. The police are the only ones that can do that.”

911 role in crisis situations

Johnson said VOAWW isn’t able to distinguish calls broken down by a specific county, which involved a 911 or law enforcement response, as VOAWW doesn’t track how many calls are transferred to local 911 call centers. He estimated between 1-2% of all calls statewide involve a 911 response. Johnson said VOAWW typically receives 6,500 calls a month statewide.

“We have to connect with dispatch centers, and then we provide them the information, and then based on the information that we provide them, ultimately they decide on how to dispatch whichever unit to that situation,” he said.

In Kitsap County, 911 services are provided by Kitsap 911. Kitsap 911 executive director Maria Jameson-Owens said the agency doesn’t keep track of the number of calls transferred from external agencies such as 988 or the Salish Regional Crisis Line. Of the crisis calls they receive, Jameson-Owens said all calls screened for an imminent risk component where a caller is making suicidal threats with means and a plan will involve notification to law enforcement.

In 2024, Kitsap 911 received 976 behavioral health calls and 641 calls between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2025, she said.

“No situation is the same. So there’s no set narrative. I can’t say you always ask this question, you always give this answer. It just doesn’t work like that. Every person in crisis is different. One thing we do is we don’t classify people. We don’t say this person is a behavioral health person. We just put down what the details are and what they’re saying. We don’t say, Oh, they’re schizophrenic. We don’t know that. We don’t diagnose,” she said.

Jameson-Owens said 911 call takers are required to go through specific training on dealing with callers in crisis and de-escalation techniques. She said call takers complete at least eight hours of crisis intervention training required by the state in addition to four hours of in-house training, which includes lectures, discussion, and practice.

“We’re not clinicians that can actually give any type of psychological or behavioral health education or help in that way; we do our best to de-escalate and get information,” she said.

Jameson-Owens described the intricacies of involving law enforcement in behavioral health calls.

“It’s hard to say that law enforcement would be the best response. I don’t know that law enforcement are trained or qualified to be handling behavioral health responses. Right now, I think they do, because that’s what we’ve always done historically. If somebody’s having a some sort of attack or a behavioral health breakdown, it seems like it would be a law enforcement function because they might be violent, or they might be yelling or screaming, or they might be considering hurting themselves, but just because we’ve always done it that that way doesn’t mean it’s the right way to handle it.”

Jameson-Owens said she believes there should be additional community resources in supporting those in behavioral health crisis situations, in addition to existing resources and programs.

“We try to do it more across the board, and we do work really collaboratively with law enforcement and fire agencies in Kitsap County. I think we all recognize that we want to do the best we possibly can. We can accomplish more…by working together than…doing our own little silos,” she said.