HPU Poll: North Carolinians Still Lack Awareness of Key Mental Health Crisis Resource
Awareness continues to remain low for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 29, 2025 – A new High Point University Poll finds adults in North Carolina are still largely unaware of crucial mental health resources available to them.
Introduced two years ago, the 988 suicide and crisis line (phone and text) was known by only 23% of North Carolina respondents in a poll conducted in August and September. This year, Sept. 8 was designated as 988 Day and observed during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
988 Suicide and Crisis Line
The majority of North Carolinians do not realize that confidential and immediate help is only a phone call or text message away during a mental health crisis. A large percentage of the population (69%) responded that they are unaware of the 988 suicide and crisis line, highlighting the need to be more intentional about getting the word out about it to communities across the state.
“I believe the 988 crisis line is a critical lifeline for individuals in distress, yet our survey data shows far too many are unaware of its existence,” said Dr. Lorrie R. Davis-Dick, assistant professor and psychiatric mental health coordinator at HPU’s Teresa B. Caine School of Nursing. “Increasing public knowledge and access to this service is essential in strengthening our community’s mental health support system.”
When respondents were asked whether they or someone they know had used the 988 line, 85% said they had not. When it came to use by someone they know, 6% indicated that someone they know has used the suicide and crisis lifeline. When polled in May 2025, North Carolinians indicated the same rates of usage – 7% (HPU Poll 111: North Carolinians and U.S. Adults Share Concerns About Mental Health Resources).
Awareness and Usage of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
You likely have heard of some 3-digit telephone lines, such as 911 and 311. Have you heard of the new 3-digit line, 988?
Yes: 23%
No: 69%
Unsure: 8%
Have you or someone you know used the 988 line?
Me
Yes: 7%
No: 85%
Unsure: 8%
Someone I Know
Yes: 6%
No: 71%
Unsure: 23%
Methodology:
HPU Poll 113 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Aug. 27 through Sept. 11 as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of North Carolina respondents and the SRC collected 950 responses (an all-adults sample) on its Qualtrics platform. All respondents were asked two screening questions to identify them as registered voters. A total of 792 respondents identified themselves as registered voters. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to the usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, for the all-adults sample, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.2 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.1 (based on the weighting). The all-adults data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, education, and ethnicity based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. The High Point University Survey Research Center (SRC) produces weights through an iterative procedure within SPSS. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. Materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.
The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative.
Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and professor of political science, serves as the executive director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.
Dr. J.R. Moller serves as the staff director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.
Dylan Shaw is a research assistant with the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.