The Finger Lakes region's 211/LIFE LINE program is expanding again.
In July, the 211 center hired 15 extra counselors to answer local calls to the new national 988 Suicide & Crisis Hotline. That's in addition to the crisis and non-emergency support that the staff offers to people who call 211.
"We're continuing to grow, we're continuing to make sure that we can keep our answer rates at a reasonable time to make sure people can get to us quickly," said Deb Turner, 211 program director.
LIFE LINE is now looking to hire an additional 18 crisis counselors. They're looking for applicants with customer service or human service experience, but people with diverse work histories are also considered if they have the necessary listening skills to be able to respond to difficult situations.
"A few years ago, we hired an accountant and she did amazing on the lines," Turner said. "We can't teach empathy, but we can teach those clinical skills to help support someone in crisis."
211, which serves Monroe, Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, and Seneca counties, answered about 9,200 calls in January. That's almost double the call rate from before the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, call volume was triple the pre-pandemic rate.
"A lot of people were struggling with loneliness; they were struggling with being disconnected from their providers, their friends, their family," Turner explained.
In addition to helping people with mental health crises, LIFE LINE counselors rely on a regional database of community resources to refer people who need help with food, housing and eviction, vaccines and more.
Turner said the local 211 service, which is part of a statewide network, is unique in this way. Locally, the center is a program of Goodwill of the Finger Lakes, which funds most of the service's operating budget.
The 988 hotline only handles crisis calls. Since its launch in July, calls from the five-county Finger Lakes region averaged roughly 800 per month. Turner expects that number will grow.
