The bill would create a national, 24-hour hotline for first responders and their family or household members. It would offer peer support, counseling information, brief help, and referrals for mental health and substance use services through voice and text. The bill also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to improve 988 referrals and training for first responder concerns, and to report on mobile crisis services for emergency responders after major disasters. It would expand disaster crisis counseling assistance to qualified emergency response providers.
First responders, including retired responders and 911 operators and dispatchers, and their families or household members could contact the hotline for support and referrals. Emergency response providers responding to major disasters could receive crisis counseling assistance. The bill would require a report on best practices for mobile, short-term crisis services during major disasters; it does not itself establish those mobile sites.
The bill authorizes $10 million for each fiscal year from 2025 through 2031 to carry out the hotline section. It does not specify costs for the other provisions.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.