I'm Good, and Thanks for Asking: The Road to 988, a Story from the One Left Behind

Summary

Equal parts public service origin story and heart-wrenching memoir, Kristina Woodahl’s debut shows how the lone survivor of a family lost to suicide turned unimaginable grief into a vital lifeline for the most desperate. 

Can you imagine if you lost your mother when you were eleven years old, your brother when you were nineteen, and your father in your thirty’s, all to suicide? This is Kristina Woodahl’s story. To most, such unimaginable tragedies would crush a person. However, she took that family history, and it fueled her drive to establish 988—the National mental health hotline, aka suicide hotline—and push through legislation.

It was a labor of love, given her family history.

The National Suicide and Crisis hotline, 988, would not exist until 2022. It was the result of decades of advocacy by mental health activists, many of whom, like Kristina, had a lived experience of suicide loss. 988 now provides 24/7 call, text, and chat access to trained counselors who can help people having thoughts of suicide, struggling with substance abuse, overwhelmed with anxiety, troubled by sexual orientation issues, feeling depressed, coping with mental or physical illness, or dealing with loneliness, grief, trauma, stressful relationships, or economic worries.