Access Center Offers Help - Callers get listening ear, access to mental health services

Do you need someone to talk to? Does everyday life leave you depressed, upset or unable to cope? Do you have a loved one who is struggling with mental health problems? Help is available by telephone.

The Access Center, operated by the Cobb & Douglas Community Services Boards, is a 24-hour telephone call center serving both Cobb and Douglas Counties. The phone number to call is 770-422-0202.

Answering more than 52,000 calls for help this past year, the Access Center is staffed by master’s prepared mental health clinicians and registered nurses. This single phone number for all behavioral health needs connects consumers to help through a computerized data base of resources that provides crisis response and call tracking.

With its staff of 18 persons, the Access Center has decreased the number of admissions to the state hospital, increased consumer satisfaction and decreased use of emergency rooms for crisis care. The Access Center serves as a crisis line with links to emergency services and provides phone screenings for mental health services and referrals to community services. It also serves as a “warm line” for supportive listening for those who have concerns or just need to talk.

The Cobb & Douglas Community Services Boards provide mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services to more than 11,000 residents of Cobb and Douglas Counties annually.