The state of Washington has opened a new statewide toll-free telephone hotline for people who are struggling during the Covid pandemic.
One of the partners is Spokane’s Frontier Behavioral Health, where Kelli Miller is chief administrative officer.
“The goal of the Washington Listens line is to be available to anybody, professionals, essential workers, people that don’t normally seek services, really anybody who just needs that additional support and access to resources that they wouldn’t have normally needed," Miller said.
She says the hotline was created by the state with federal disaster relief money. It’s open from 9 am-9 pm during the week and 9 am-6 pm on the weekends. Some participating agencies are hiring and training people to answer phones; others rely on existing staff members.
At least three of the seven partners serve Native people: Spokane’s American Indian Community Center and the Colville and Swinomish Tribes.
“Lots of our tribal partner agencies have a lot more resources and knowledge about something that’s impacting those communities very differently than others that are not so enmeshed in that," Miller said.
The Washington Listens line number is 1-833-681-0211.