Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 9, 1 September 1994 — On the island of Hawaiʻi, help is just a phone call away [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

On the island of Hawaiʻi, help is just a phone call away

Sometimes when people are in a crisis, they just need someone to talk to, someone to "talk them off the ledge." Other times, they need guidance in dealing with problems

on a more long-term basis. Sometimes they need both. Fortunately for residents of the island of Hawai'i, there is the Big Island Crisis & Help Line. The agency has received a $50,000 grant from OHA toward operating a Crisis Response System, whieh provides crisis/emergency mental health intervention services (the total cost of the

project is $413,472). The money pays for counseling, advocacy, referral information, and acute psychiatric outreach care via a 24-hour hot line. "It's for people who are in crisis or who maybe just need to vent, ... and it's also a link to our crisis response" program, says information and referral coordinator Adrianne Greenlees. Greenlees says the non-profit United Way agency helps out in "any sort of crisis that could be life-threatening, or could bring about violent behavior, or could be dangerous to one's psyche." If need be, the person who

answers the phone line dispatchs a two-person response team to visit the client and offer counseling or even kōkua in the form of food, rent assistance, transportation, or whatever ean help. The agency has these teams set up and ready to go all over the island, so, Greenlees says, "We ean usually provide crisis response in less than 30 minutes." Then, onee the immediate danger has subsided, clients are referred to any one of a number of programs in order to help them get their lives back on track. The agency also maintains islandwide "safe house shel-

ters," enabling people who need to get out of dangerous environments to reside in safety until things eool down. Statistics provided by the agency say the island is in

need of its services - Hawai'i County has a suicide rate 200 percent higher than the national rate and 230 percent than other counties in Hawai'i — and that Hawaiians often benefit from their services - in 1992, 40 percent of the 6,500

calls received were from Hawaiians. The Crisis Response System project receives funds from the state Department of Health and coordinates its efforts with a host of other organizations including Alu Like, mental health centers, Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step pro-

grams, veterans centers, crisis shelters, and hospitals. "One of the big benefits of the OHA grant for us has been our ability to work with the Hawaiian community more closely, and we've also been able to increase collaboration between our agency and other agencies like Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center. Sometimes we'll piggy-back with them or

provide assistance that they can't provide, or vice versa," Greenlees says. JC

Organization: Big isiand Crisis & Help Line Program: Crisis / emergency mentai health intervention services OHA grant: $50,000

To the rescue: Crisis Line staff member Jackie Correa Photo courtesy Big lsland Crisis & Heip Line i