A new 24/7 hotline in Massachusetts allows those seeking mental health services to be connected with clinicians for help, free of charge. The state's Behavioral Health Help Line is an initiative from the outgoing Baker administration in an effort to address a lack of hospital beds and long waiting lists for mental health providers.
Starting Jan. 3, a person who needs help with mental health or substance use can call or text 833-773-2445 or visit masshelpline.com to chat virtually with a clinician or trained specialist, who will connect the caller with services, such as guiding the caller to a provider in their own community or dispatching a crisis team.
"It's really like a triage," Rebekah Gewirtz, executive director for the Massachusetts branch of the National Association of Social Workers, told Boston Public Radio. "This can connect you to various different services, it can connect you to the community behavioral health centers, and it can connect you to other [help] lines."
And there's follow-up. After an initial conversation, the hotline worker will reach back out to the caller to ask if they got the help they needed.
“It’s not just a roadmap, I think, for Massachusetts — it could be a roadmap for the nation,” Geqirtz said. “Many, many states are struggling with this problem of lack of access to mental health services, lack of people who can provide those services.”
The help line can also be used by people seeking help for their family members or friends.
Gewirtz noted that the fragmented health care system can be confusing and that people may not understand where to seek mental health support. Anyone in the United States can now call 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline that launched last July, and 211 connects callers in Massachusetts to people in health and human services.
"Now we've got the rollout of this new help line. But in addition — don't forget — we have 988, we have 211, we have 911," she said. "We want to make sure consumers have the information they need to be able to know where to go."
The answer to that, Gewirtz said, should be taken up by the state's 988 Commission. She noted the commission has not yet met, and that the involved groups are "ready" to move forward. Gerwitz said the health and human services secretary has the authority to convene the group, and she is hopeful that essential next step will be prioritized under Gov. Maura Healey, who was sworn in Thursday.
"You know, things can move slowly," she said. "There are lots of commissions that are created through legislation. The Behavioral Health Trust Fund Commission is another one. That one was sitting on $200 million. ... It's met twice, and now it's going to meet one more time and they're going to make recommendations to the Legislature to spend those funds."
The 988 Commission doesn't have that financial impetus, Gerwitz said, but there is urgency because of all the different phone lines.
"We just have to meet," she said.
