Mental health agencies add Spanish-speaking hotline
Herald-JournalAug 20, 2020
A toll-free support line for Spanish speaking residents has been added by the S.C. Department of Mental Health and S.C. Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.
Based in
The agencies launched SC-HOPES
SC-HOPES, at 1-844-SC-HOPES, provides callers with general guidance and referrals to providers for counseling and treatment needs.
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"But there are steps we can take to address these feelings. We created this line to ensure that Latinx families can easily connect with resources that will meet their specific needs and get support without having to worry about language fluency."
SC-HOPES staff members recognized the need to add a Spanish-speaking toll-free number for staff members, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to
The SC-HOPES and TU-APOYO toll-free lines are staffed at the Eubanks Center's peer living room location in
"We are seeing minority communities, communities of color and Latinx, being disproportionately affected by the coronavirus," Williams said Tuesday. "I'm really pleased our staff came forward."
He said the mental health center has been seeing more patients in recent months, but the average length of interaction between patients and staff is down because nearly half of the services are provided by telephone or telehealth video, rather than in-person.
"We urge people to keep social contacts going -- stay in touch with friends and family. Don't distance yourself socially, even if social distancing."
The agency serves about 100,000 people each year. As the state's public mental health system, it provides outpatient mental health services through a network of 16 community mental health centers and clinics, serving all 46 counties, and psychiatric hospital services through three state hospitals.
The agency also provides long-term care in one community nursing care center and three state veterans' nursing homes.
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