A new study finds most community crisis services did not expand after the launch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, potentially limiting the line’s effectiveness.

Researchers found walk-in psychiatric services, mobile crisis response units and suicide prevention programs offered by mental health treatment facilities all declined after 988 launched in July 2022, HealthDay reports. Between November 2021 and June 2023, emergency psychiatric walk-in services declined from 32% to 29% at facilities. Mobile crisis response dropped from 22% to 21% of facilities, while availability of suicide prevention services declined from 69% to 68%.

“The lack of meaningful growth in most crisis services may limit the long-run success of 988, in particular if callers feel that reaching out to 988 fails to result in access to appropriate sources of care,” lead investigator Jonathan Cantor of the nonprofit research organization RAND said in a news release.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides an easy-to-remember phone number to access trained crisis counselors and emergency mental health services. It replaced the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which had been reachable via an 800 phone number and was focused on suicide as opposed to mental health crises more broadly.

The 988 crisis line is intended to complement other forms of mental health emergency response services and connect callers with a variety of mental health services on the crisis care continuum.