Orleans signs contract with Niagara to run crisis hotline
Orleans and Genesee have new numbers for a crisis hotline. The previous numbers through the YWCA will continue to work in the short-term.
ALBION – The Niagara County Mental Health Department will continue to operate a crisis intervention hotline for Orleans and Genesee counties, after Niagara stepped up in an interim based when the service ceased suddenly last month.
Niagara assumed Orleans and Genesee calls on a crisis hotline after the YWCA announced on April 2 it would be shutting down the crisis line.
The arrangement was formally approved on Tuesday after a final OK by the Niagara County Legislature. Orleans will reimburse Niagara at the same rate it did the YWCA, said Mark O’Brien, director of the Orleans County Mental Health Department.
The phone numbers for the Care and Crisis Helpline through the YWCA – Local: 585-344-4400 and Toll Free: 1-844-345-4400 – have been forwarded to Niagara County since soon after April 2.
O’Brien said new numbers are being introduced: 585-283-5200 and 741741 to text.
O’Brien said the mental health leaders in the three counties, including Ellery Reaves in Genesee and Laura J. Kelemen in Niagara, have been working hard to have a crisis helpline in place for Orleans and Genesee.
He praised Niagara County “for stepping up with this.”
