BOISE, ID – The high suicide rate in Idaho is under scrutiny during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September.
The state had the fourth-highest suicide rate in the nation in 2023. The Idaho Crisis and Suicide Hotline is among the organizations working to reduce the number. The hotline fields calls in Idaho to 988, the suicide prevention number established nationwide in 2022.
Lee Flinn, director of the Idaho Crisis and Suicide Hotline, said the number of calls to her organization has increased in the past three years. They have also established a statewide mobile response team, available 24/7.
“When a person needs more support than we can provide by telephone or by text, we are now able to dispatch a mobile crisis team,” Flinn explained. “These teams are in-person teams of two people who can really meet a person where they’re at and provide face-to-face crisis support.”
There were more than 450 deaths by suicide in 2023, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the seventh-most common cause of death.
However, the Idaho Crisis and Suicide Hotline has faced hurdles to serving people under the age of 18 since a law went into effect last year requiring parental consent for the medical treatment of minors. Flinn pointed out her line can help in cases where someone’s life is in danger but in other situations where the young person is asked to get parental consent for treatment, some choose to hang up instead.
“That’s not ideal because they might still be struggling, they might still need someone to talk to,” Flinn emphasized. “That’s precisely one of the challenges that we’re having in providing crisis support within this law.”
A bill was introduced during this year’s legislative session to correct the unintended consequence of the parental consent law and passed in the Senate but stalled in the House.
Flinn added there are other ways to accommodate young people on the hotline. She noted parents sometimes call 988 to show their kids what the service is like.
“They can call us and just say, ‘Hey, I’m calling with my son, I’m calling with my daughter and I just wanted to let them know what happens when a person calls 988,'” Flinn underscored. “A parent can also call us and give consent for their child to talk to us and we can keep that on file.”
