GREENSBORO, N.C. – Mental health professionals are raising concerns about the proposed state budget after learning it does not include funding for North Carolina’s suicide prevention hotline.
Right now if you call the national suicide prevention hotline, they transfer that call to a group of specialists here in North Carolina that talk through your problems and help connect you with local resources such as therapists or a nearby emergency room. But if that North Carolina program loses funding then you could be stuck talking with someone as far away as even California. And that means a delay in getting critical resources according to the non-profit group NC Child.
“It can make a huge difference. When someone is in crisis, it’s really important to get them to the right resources at the right time,” said Rob Thompson with NC Child. “Time is really of the essence.”
And the number of people who use this service in North Carolina is staggering. NC Child says the North Carolina hotline gets an average of 255 calls every single day. And the program needs about $350,000 to handle all those calls. Money that had come from the federal grant, but Uncle Sam said that wasn't a correct use of the funds. So now it's up to the state to pick up the bill, and it's possible the program could have just been left out of the budget by accident. In fact, Senate Appropriations Committee co-chairman Harry Brown writes:
“This was a federal program and the funds were a pass through,” he said. “The governor’s office did not make us aware that the funding was ending, but we are now working to address the issue.”
Several advocacy groups are already reaching out to lawmakers trying to get money for the hotline.
If the money doesn't come through, the state program could have to shut down by July.