If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available.
Call or Text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
What can a behavioral health crisis look like?
A crisis is a time of intense difficulty, distress or trouble. A crisis can be personal, a family crisis, or related to some other event in your life.
- Substance Use
- Suicidal thoughts
- Depression
- Relationship conflict
- Stress
- Mental health concerns
- Concerns for loved ones
- Isolation
- Trauma
What support does the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offer in North Dakota?
A trained crisis counselor will answer the phone and listen to you. provide support and share resources if needed. If the local crisis center is unable to take the call, you will be automatically routed to a national backup crisis center.
If additional support is needed, the crisis counselor will connect individuals to more intensive crisis services:
Mobile crisis team
Coordinated through the state’s Human Service Centers (public behavioral health clinics), a mobile crisis team can meet a person where they are, whether this is their home, work, school, or other location.
What the mobile crisis team offers:
- Stabilizes the crisis quickly
- Assess for risk of harm to self/others
- Helps problem-solve by connecting the person to services and resources
- Provides after-crisis support
Crisis facilities
Walk in and get support at a crisis facility 24-hours/7 days a week for a brief screening in the Bismarck, Fargo and Jamestown regions.
- Individuals can walk in and receive short-term, recovery-focused services to help resolve a behavioral health crisis. This could also include one or more overnight stays. Services include withdrawal management, supportive therapy and referrals to needed services.
Walk into any human service center between 8 am and 5 pm CT for a behavioral health screening.
- Mental health professionals work one-on-one with people to assess their situation and help them connect to services either at a human service center or community provider to prevent a future crisis.
- Find a Human Service Center near you
Developmental Disabilities CARES Crisis Response
Individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities in crisis can get help by calling 988.
They will be connected to a specialized Developmental Disabilities CARES Response Team who can provide stabilization, support and services coordination within 24 hours of the initial call.
- CARES Crisis Coordinators and applied behavior analysts are located throughout the state and work closely with the behavioral health mobile crisis teams from the state’s regional human service centers.
- A sliding fee schedule is available based on an individual’s ability to pay and insurance is accepted, if available.
How is 988 different than 911 or 211?
In North Dakota, the 211 system provides health and social service assistance information and referrals. FirstLink responded to both 211 and 988 calls in the state. 911 remains the system for emergencies. The state continues to coordinate 988 and 911 systems to allow referrals when needed.
While generally being different in scope, the 211, 911 and 988 systems need to be aligned, and in many cases, local Lifeline centers also respond to 211 contacts. This will help ensure an all-inclusive approach regardless of which number a person may use first.
What is 988?
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) offers 24/7 call, text and chat access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing suicidal, substance use, and/or mental health crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress. People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.
The Lifeline is not only for suicide-related crisis, but responds 24/7 to calls, chats or texts from anyone who needs support for suicidal, mental health, and/or substance use crisis, and connects those in need with trained crisis counselors.
For more information on 988, visit: 988 Frequently Asked Questions | SAMHSA