Pensacola now has its own certified 988 suicide prevention counselors. Why it saves lives.
When Sarah Andrews answers the phone at work, she never knows who will be on the other end of the line, but it’s often someone who is at a breaking point.
Andrews is part of United Way of West Florida’s new crisis counseling team, which underwent extensive training last year to become a certified crisis line with the Florida 988 Coalition, the state branch of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
The nonprofit organization serves six counties in Northwest Florida, from Escambia County to Bay County, and is already answering 550-600 calls a month since launching the local service last fall.
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“We get callers of all ages, from all different walks of life, we even get calls from children," Andrews said. “The youngest one that we got was a 12-year-old, which is just so sad. With children a lot of times they’re calling because they’re struggling in school, so they’re upset about that, or they’re upset about their grades, or they’re being bullied, or have family problems.
"With teenagers, there are some struggling with sexual identity. For adults, there are people who struggle with job loss or divorce, so that’s a big crisis for them. Substance abuse is big, too, and we get a lot of calls from veterans. Many people are dealing with grief, domestic violence, sexual abuse. Just a range of people looking for help and to connect with someone.”
The United Way’s free 211 information referral services line has been available to people in need, day or night, for decades along with a national suicide prevention lifeline, but a couple of years ago Congress passed a law forming 988, a nationwide, three digit dialing service available 24/7 for people in mental health crisis or having thoughts of suicide.
The goal is to connect people who are struggling with local resources to help them cope, but when administrators with United Way West Florida started learning more about the program, they discovered that callers from Northwest Florida were directed to a program in Tampa and St. Petersburg.
“The hallmark of the national suicide prevention lifeline network is that it administered by local centers familiar with local services — well, that wasn’t happening here,” said Mike Martin, director of 211 NWFL, 988 Crisis Line, and Florida Veterans Support Line for United Way of West Florida. “We knew we could serve our people here in Northwest Florida better than somebody out of Tampa, St. Pete. Just plain and simple. We knew the resources, we’re familar with the resources, we have existing relationships with the resources. Nobody in Tampa/St. Pete can say that. They don’t have the knowledge or the connections with our resources when you’re six hours away.”
So, United Way of West Florida took on a mission to become a certified crisis line through the suicide prevention lifeline network and join the Florida 988 Coalition.
Getting accredited wasn’t an easy process. They had to convince the national and state organizations they should be included and then invest a lot of time and energy to qualify for certification, like undergoing extensive training online and in-person. Once accredited, the 988 line went live locally in October and Martin quickly set out to include partners who could best help them help callers in crisis.
The Escambia Board of County Commissioners recently approved a memorandum of understanding between the county and United Way that crisis counselors will notify Escambia County 911 when they get a call from someone at imminent risk of harming themselves or others, so appropriate resources can be dispatched. Escambia County 911 can refer those who call, who aren’t in need of emergency help but are having suicidal thoughts or emotional crises, to 211 NWFL for crisis counseling.
Escambia County Commissioner Robert Bender said it’s a program the county is glad to support.
“We’re happy to have this resource available and staffed locally,” said Bender. “People who need help can call this service and get help immediately and talk to someone who is local.”
United Way West Florida has also partnered with Pensacola’s Lakeview Center, an organization that provides comprehensive behavioral health care. Lakeview has a Mobile Response Team in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties respectively to respond in-person to people in need and suffering a mental health crisis, if the caller requests or agrees to it. Lakeview received additional funding from the Department of Children and Families to provide the MRTs and it has been very effective since they started in 2019, according to Lakeview. The organization is also glad to partner with United Way and build partnerships to help reach more people.
“I love it, I’m very passionate about it,” said Carolyn Shearman, Lakeview’s director of emergency services. “I think it has been very good for the community. One of my personal goals is to destigmatize mental health services. We just want positive word-of-mouth experiences, like someone saying, ‘They listened, they came to my house, they sat at my kitchen table.’ We want it to be a-la-cart mental health as opposed to someone had to come to your house and Baker Act you and you had to go off in handcuffs. Sometimes that’s the right thing to have happen, but a lot of time it isn’t.”
Sarah Andrews joined United Way West Florida almost 10 years ago to help people and she said her work as a crisis counselor supervisor has only made her job more rewarding. Their No. 1 goal is to keep callers safe and connect with them. They’re trained to talk callers down off the proverbial ledge, if need be, assess their level of need, then connect them with the appropriate resources. Andrews said so far, only about 2% of the calls they get have to be sent to MRT or 911. She said the majority of people have simply reached a breaking point emotionally and want to talk to someone who cares.
“A lot of people call us because they might not feel comfortable sharing things with family, friends or even a therapist,” Andrews said. “We also get a lot of third-party callers who are worried about a loved one. Most are just looking to get it off their chest. Sometimes the best way to help alleviate someone’s pain is not by directing them to things that might be able to help but just by being there and just listening and people feeling heard.”
“We have to remember, we’re not there to solve their problems for them,” Andrews said. “We can’t do that in just one conversation, right? But we are there to be there for them, be empathetic to them, to not judge them and to let them know the person on the other end of the line really cares about them.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: 211 United Way West Florida has Pensacola suicide prevention counseling
