More than 1,000 Coloradans take their own lives every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. These growing numbers rank the state as the sixth-highest suicide rate in the country.

Between April and May, the Colorado suicide prevention hotline received more than 11,200 calls with 22% going unanswered, according to health policy research group KFF.

Officials from the suicide hotline organization Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners beg to differ. According to their research, only 13.9% of calls went unanswered during said period, with those numbers improving.

As RMCP became Colorado’s 988 center — a suicide and crisis hotline —  in 2022, officials said it has seen drastic improvements in client communication.

It’s a matter they take seriously.

“We know that timing matters,” Kelly Bowman, manager of 988 Enterprise at the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration, said. “It can seem like an eternity when you are in pain and are looking for help. When someone has the courage to reach out, being able to meet them quickly is really important.”

The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline was mandated by the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, and requires each state to have a call center that puts callers and texters in contact with a live counselor. That combined the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and Veterans Crisis Line under the 3-digit alias.

Between April and June, Bowman said, 88% of Colorado 988 calls have been answered within 30 seconds — half the time of the 59-second goal.

By April 2024, RMCP predicts most calls will be answered between 15-20 seconds.

Bowman added that every Colorado-based call that goes unanswered for longer than 59 seconds is transferred to a backup national hotline, so no call ever truly goes unanswered. 

But improving contact starts with understanding the discrepancies, she said. Though RMCP reports only missing 14% of calls — as opposed to the 22% reported by KFF — finding the reasons behind the drops can help further improvements.

“There are a lot of reasons that the calls can drop on the front end, and we never learn about it at the Rocky Mountain Crisis Center,” Bowman said. “We are uncovering a lot of various reasons across the country as to why these variances exist.”

Examples of reasons calls may be dropped include: Cell service issues; callers deciding to hang up and locational discrepancies that may cause the “abandonment rate.”

Regardless, Bowman notes that 14% isn’t low enough. Zero unanswered calls will always be the goal, especially in a state where suicide rates are at a 15-year high.

Bowman points to the 2021 legislation Colorado passed allowing crisis services to be funded through telecom fees as a “historical” help for suicide hotlines.

A 2021 report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed most crisis centers only receive $2,500 to $5,000 a year in federal funds, with the rest of funds coming publicly. The lack of funding makes it difficult to staff centers, lowering answer rates and response times.

Telecom funding gives Colorado the freedom to build staff, raising answer rates.

“Other states are looking at what we did. It gives us a lot of flexibility and support to plan for 988,” Bowman said. “Talking to other states that do not have sustainable funding, it’s a huge challenge… Knowing that we have really invested in 988 in Colorado is something we should be really proud of.”

It may be too soon to tell if 988 will improve Colorado suicide rate, but Bowman calls it a “really exciting time for how we can do better as a country and how we can improve what we’re working on in Colorado.”