YOUNGSTOWN — For some people in crisis, calling a few simple, easy-to-remember numbers can be the difference between life and death.

“If people in crisis are aware that just three numbers — 988 — will connect them to someone who cares, someone who can help and, most importantly, someone who can provide hope, we have a much better chance of helping that person and preventing a tragic ending,” Vince Brancaccio, Help Network of Northeast Ohio’s chief executive officer, said.

Brancaccio made his remarks during the agency’s Hope in Motion campaign kickoff Thursday at the Covelli Centre.

An estimated 100 elected officials, community leaders, mental health and crisis-intervention specialists and others attended the gathering, set up to make people more aware of the national 988 suicide and crisis lifeline. Help Network administers and answers the line for those in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.

Also at the event was a Western Reserve Transit Authority bus on which the word “hope” is written in large capital letters, along with the slogan “Awareness is the road to prevention.” The vehicle, which many attendees signed to display their support for the effort, will travel throughout the Mahoning Valley to make a greater number of residents aware they can call 988 if they’re in a crisis for which they’re unable to handle alone or are contemplating ending their lives.

Since the system’s launch in July 2022, Ohio’s 988 call centers have received more than 10,000 calls, chats and text messages per month from residents in all 88 counties. That figure is expected to increase as the system becomes more known and used, according to a report from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Contrary to what many people think, suicide is much less about death than the end result of pain those who take their lives have experienced and endured, Duane Piccirilli, the Mahoning County Mental Health & Recovery Board’s, executive director, explained.

“We say over and over again, ‘Mental health is health care,'” Piccirilli said, noting that 39 confirmed suicides have occurred this year in Mahoning County, 80% of which have been men.

Piccirilli added that Help Network is one of the few crisis centers in the state that provides a hybrid 988 and 211 service, meaning that people also can call the latter number if they need general information or referrals to agencies that can help them find food, for example.

Such a service is vital because someone who can’t pay an electric bill and may face having the utility disconnected can easily also experience a crisis related to it, he explained.

“A crisis can happen to anyone at any moment. 988 is there to help people get through the darkest time in their lives,” Doug Jackson, Ohio’s 988 coordinator and administrator, said.

Another benefit to the lifeline is that many people in a crisis will find it easy to memorize — akin to calling 911 for an emergency, as opposed to the former 10-digit suicide-prevention number, Jackson added.

State Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, said he and other elected officials sought to have the 988 system fully funded in the most recent biennial budget. A top priority is to address crises that many people deal with and increases in suicides that the state has seen, he added.

Making additional remarks was Mahoning County Commissioner David C. Ditzler, who told those assembled that he has lost four friends to suicide.