It was fairly quiet among the half-dozen people in cubicles wearing headsets in a call center in Charleston. But they know that every phone call may bring a mental health crisis or a person considering suicide who needs help.
It has been nearly a year since the call center began taking some of the load of the South Carolina 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and already is improving the state’s response. Since June 1, it has fielded more than 4,100 calls from people with suicidal thoughts or other mental health needs, said Jennifer Brush, executive director of the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center, which runs the call center.
The first month alone, it fielded 370 calls, and that has continued ever since, she said.
Jennifer Brush is executive director of the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center, which runs the Charleston call center.
The main 988 response center is run by Mental Health America of Greenville County, but it struggled to increase staffing fast enough to meet the volume coming in since 988 launched in the Palmetto State in July 2022. Some of those calls were then answered by services in other states. The state Legislature boosted funding to open the Charleston center, and the number of calls answered in-state rose from 67 percent to more than 80 percent, Brush said.
“It has slowly crept up to about 82 percent” now, she said, but the goal is for 100 percent. It is better for calls to be answered in South Carolina because those fielding them are more familiar with the resources available, Brush said.
But staffing is still a struggle, as it is elsewhere in mental health care.
“Staffing 24-hour programs is a challenge for everybody,” she said.
The TriCounty Crisis Stabilization Center in Charleston, a 10-bed unit that can provide short stays to keep people out of jail or a hospital, has also struggled with finding trained staff, particularly nurses.
“There’s a lot of competition here in our area” for nurses with all of the local hospitals, Brush said.
But it’s not just nurses, “it’s all the different disciplines” needed in mental health care, said Dennis Puebla, director of special operations for Charleston Dorchester Mental Health.
Dennis Puebla (left), director of special operations for Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center, celebrates a ribbon-cutting marking the one-year anniversary of the 988 call center in Charleston alongside Mary Dorrell (center), team leader of the Mobile Crisis call center, and Julisa Dorsainvil (right), who is 988 team lead.
When it is quiet in the call center, the staff work on different training modules.
“Staying on our toes,” said Julisa Dorsainvil, 988 Team Lead.
They also try to look after staff and are in the process of creating a “wellness room” where staff can go to take a break “and have that opportunity to bring ourselves down after a tough call,” she said.
While Charleston has the only true Crisis Stabilization Unit in the state, the Department of Mental Health has been working on adding more, and there will hopefully be one opening in the Columbia area in the fall, Brush said. There have also been other mental health providers that have recently opened in the Charleston area and “every bit helps,” she said.
“There’s enough work to go around, for sure,” Brush said. “We’re all very busy. There’s a lot of folks out there that need help.”