Navigating the behavioral health care system can feel overwhelming even on a good day. In the middle of a mental health emergency, it can feel downright impossible.
HelpLine acts as a local entry point for mental health and addiction resources across Delaware and Morrow counties, whether someone is experiencing an immediate crisis, trying to find counseling or other resources, or simply unsure what kind of help they need.
“People don’t always know what service they need or even where to begin,” said Jessica Cimino, Crisis Services Director and Privacy Officer at HelpLine.
That is why HelpLine exists: to give Delaware and Morrow County residents a trusted place to reach out when life becomes overwhelming.
“Someone doesn’t have to be in crisis; they can be, of course, but they could also just be looking for treatment or trying to navigate the available resources in the area,” Cimino said.
“They don’t have to have everything figured out before they reach out.”
When someone calls or texts, trained HelpLine specialists listen, work to understand what is happening, offer emotional support and help determine what the person needs next. Depending on the situation, that might mean safety planning, connecting someone with counseling or social services, or helping a young person and caregiver access a mobile crisis response.
Getting connected with local people and local resources
HelpLine specialists are based in Delaware and Morrow counties, giving them firsthand knowledge of the communities and the resources they offer.
Through 211, HelpLine maintains a database of local resources, including housing, health care and other community services. Staff can also connect young people in crisis and their caregivers with Mobile Response and Stabilization Services, or MRSS.
That local knowledge can matter when someone is already overwhelmed. HelpLine can do more than simply hand a caller a phone number and ask them to make the next call alone.
If someone is nervous about contacting a counseling agency, for example, a specialist may offer a “warm transfer,” staying on the line while reaching out to the provider together.
HelpLine’s Crisis Engagement Coordination, or CEC, program can then help bridge the gap between an immediate crisis and longer-term care. Licensed mental health clinicians follow up with individuals and families after a crisis, helping maintain safety and stability while working toward a connection with treatment or social services.
Depending on someone’s needs, that outreach may happen by phone or in person and may continue over days, weeks or longer.
The program was created after the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board identified a gap between the moment of crisis and the point when someone becomes connected with continuing care.
“There’s nobody there in the middle, and so they’re like a bridge that goes across that gap,” Cimino said.
Crisis care does not end with the crisis
For Deanna Brant, executive director of the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, that bridge is an important part of what effective crisis care should look like.
“The crisis isn’t over when your clinician walks you to their lobby, or the police officer leaves, or you leave a hospital,” Brant said. “It’s the beginning of getting better, and so outreach is everything.”
A person may leave a hospital, appointment or crisis intervention feeling more stable, only to return to many of the same circumstances that contributed to the crisis.
Brant described HelpLine’s follow-up as “non–demand caring contact” — outreach focused on checking in, helping someone remain connected and recognizing that recovery can take time.
“We understand you’re better, but not all better, and we know you need someone who cares about you to follow up,” Brant said.
HelpLine is one part of a broader behavioral health system that the board works to plan, fund and maintain across Delaware and Morrow counties. Unlike many traditional health care services, some crisis and prevention programs have few or no other payers available.
Brant pointed to crisis hotlines and crisis engagement services as examples.
“Without local dollars, the gaps would not be the exception; they would be the rule,” Brant said.
Local levy funding from the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board helps make HelpLine’s local crisis line and CEC program possible.
Other services, including 988 and 211, are supported through different funding sources, with each serving as part of a larger community safety net.
That funding supports services residents may never think about until the moment they or someone they love needs them.
“Sometimes behavioral health care services are the kind of services you’re not necessarily made aware of at a really high level or an intense way until you need them,” Brant said.
For Cimino, the most important thing residents should know is that reaching out does not require knowing exactly what comes next.
“They don’t have to know what service they need, or even know how to exactly describe what’s happening,” Cimino said.
That first conversation can be enough to begin identifying what someone needs and connecting them with the right local support, one day at a time.
Learn more about the Delaware Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, and how you can support their work. Do you need help or information? Call 1-800-684-2324 or text HELPLINE to 898211.
