Big change in the works for mental health crisis call system. Why it’s important to California

If someone right now were to call the national mental health and suicide prevention phone number — the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — there’s a chance they’d be sent to a call center thousands of miles away. Where a caller is sent depends on the area code of their telephone number. That means someone who originally got their phone number in Maryland or some other distant state would be routed to that state even if they were currently in Sacramento. This can be a huge problem for the counselors...