Expanded 211 Recommendation Raising LGBTQ Community Concerns

meetings with Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly, said a 211 designation would require retraining 211 operators to effectively handle calls from LGBTQ youth in crisis. It said an independent N11 or three-digit code for mental health crises would prioritize suicide. TTP also said the FCC's report to Congress required under the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act should include recommendations that national suicide prevention lifeline counselors be trained in LGBTQ cultural competency and that an integrated voice response to route calls to TTP be established. Adding the responsibility for suicide prevention and mental health crisis calls to 211 raises the risk of delayed access to experienced assistance, LGBTQ advocacy group Equality North Carolina (ENC) said. It said there's a danger in inexperienced 211 call center staffers who are unprepared for mental health crisis calls or in interactive voice response that increases wait times. The FCC instead should designate a currently undesignated N11 code or repurpose a designated-but-low-volume N11 code, it said. Suicide prevention organization Suicide Awareness Voices of Education said suicide prevention and mental health crises need their own N11 dialing code, and dual use of 211 or creation of a 10-digit number "could make things even worse."