SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.—Local mental health experts say more calls to their crisis hotline are coming in, which means people are getting help.
“When we were talking last, we were on the heels of the holidays approaching a time that notorious has higher call volume and also more people in the community are are struggling,” said Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness Spokeswoman Suzanne Grimmesey.
When we spoke to them during the holidays last year, the workers were getting about 1,100 calls a month. In January of this year, they took 1,500 calls.
The Santa Barbara County access line workers help callers with everything from substance use issues to mental health crises by connecting them with life- saving resources.
Though the call volume for substance use disorder services has stayed relatively the same, the calls for mental health services have spiked.
“When people call and they call in crisis, we send out our mobile crisis team. We're seeing an increase in those calls… But we're seeing a 20% decrease and people needing hospitalization,” said Grimmesey.
Mental health experts say the increase in calls isn't necessarily a bad thing - sometimes it means people are reaching out for help earlier.
“We’re engaging earlier in a crisis event for someone and we're able to to safety plan and help them not end up in a hospital or go on a 51-50 hold….“This isn't just calls from hospitals or law enforcement. This is family members calling about their loved ones now and clients calling themselves saying, hey, I think I need somebody to help me out. And yeah, so it's it's all shown really positive results,” said Crisis and Access Services Program Manager Connor Pearce. The access line is trying to hire for two more positions to handle the increase in call volume. Mental health experts say if you see someone who is struggling to reach out help them make the call.
“The more that we talk about mental health, the more that we talk about it's okay to not feel okay. And there's somewhere you can call for help,” said Grimmesey. You can reach the free 24/7 County Access Line at (888) 868-1649.
Services are available in both English and Spanish.
Santa Barbara County’s free Behavioral Wellness Access sees huge uptick in callers in recent months. News Channel 3-12.
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