A new mental health hotline is launching this weekend.
All someone experiencing a mental health crisis will have to do is call or text 988. This number replaces a longer 1-800 number tied to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
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"When you invest in behavior health services, you see a 40-ish percent statewide decrease in emergency department visits," said North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kody Kinsley at a town hall on mental health in Greensboro on Thursday night.
NBC News reports that the hotline will be open 24/7 and will provide free, confidential support with a certified crisis center in the area where the call was placed.
"We want you to know that if you are suffering severe stress and emotional trauma, if you aren't sure where to go, even if it's not at a point of suicide, we want you to call. We want you to reach out. That is the purpose of the 988 lifeline that is hopefully going to go live mid-July across the country," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in May.
"No longer will people have to call a 10-digit phone number to try to get help. What 911 is for local emergencies, we hope 988 will become people under emotional and mental stress."
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 10 to 34, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes it as a "serious public health problem."
"If we were to really re-tool how things worked in this state, we would envision that mental health is just as easily accessible as any other part of health care," said Kinsley.
As of June, over 20,000 people have called the Suicide Prevention Lifeline, according to the organization.
In North Carolina last year, the hotline received more than 35,000 calls. The state expects the 988 number to increase those calls by 30%.