Dr. John Draper
Former executive director for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where he oversaw the launch of 988

Dr. Draper has over 30 years of experience in crisis intervention and suicide prevention work and is considered an international expert in behavioral health crisis services (hotline, online chat, text services, etc). He began his career as a psychologist directing Brooklyn-based mobile crisis team for 7 years, before joining the Mental Health Association of NYC (now Vibrant Emotional Health) in 1996 to launch New York City’s first 24-7 crisis hotline, the award-winning LifeNet.  In 2004, Dr. Draper led the development and operations of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which he oversaw as its Executive Director through the launch of 988 in July 2022, Lifeline’s new 3-digit number. As Vibrant’s Executive Vice President of National Crisis Networks, Dr. Draper and his team also developed and administered the SAMHSA-funded Disaster Distress Helpline (since 2011) and the National Football League (NFL) Life Line (since 2012), as well as partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in their administration of the national Veterans Crisis Line (since 2007). In October 2022, Dr. Draper joined Behavioral Health Link, Inc. (BHL), a national leader in crisis services and a primary member of the Five Lanes of Crisis Partners. As BHL’s President of Research and Development, he is continuing his long history of applying research, data and technologies to improve the quality of crisis care systems across the continuum both locally and nationally.