Rebuilding the 988 Workforce
Amidst the pandemic, the 988 Lifeline started experiencing a staffing shortage with a one-third reduction in the workforce at the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Watch this video to learn more about the challenges we're tackling head-on and how you can be part of the solution. Taking the first steps toward a career in this field can help us bridge the gap and ensure mental health services are there when needed most.
Transcript:
Tatum North: I noticed in my community that there was an increased population of individuals that had mental illnesses that were going unaddressed.
North: I knew that I wanted to pursue a career professionally, to be able to address their needs.
Commissioner Kevin Tanner: If you want a job that you get to come to every day and really make a difference in someone’s life, this is the job for you.
Evan Brown: I get to be the person that supports you and loves you through a journey until you’re able to love yourself.
Commissioner Tanner: I like to say we’re in a state of emergency when it comes to the workforce, it’s the biggest challenge, the number one challenge we face as an agency.
North: Also, being able to have compassion and have a true love for people and a true desire to help.
North: I think that everyone deserves a chance, I think everyone deserves to have someone in their life that’s there to support them and that’s there to help them.
Jan Ligon: A person’s life is not just their suicide attempt or their depression. That’s a piece of the puzzle. And so, we try to look at the whole puzzle. And I think the challenge of that is fascinating to me, how we assess the situation and get those pieces of the puzzle laid out and then try to figure out where we are going to start.
Ligon: I think our trick is to really convey those opportunities and help people understand that they could have a career with DBHDD.
Ligon: We are actually starting a behavioral health specialty track.
Brown: I had addictions to meth, marijuana, opiates and alcohol were some of the big ones.
Brown: I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar.
Brown: I needed some assistance and it took my therapist. That was part of my big pivot in my journey.
Brown: First time someone ever looked at me and said, I can understand why you feel that way. Everyone else said, Evan, you have anger issues. You need to work on them.
Brown: With him, coupled with some medications, some mental health treatments, I’ve been able to sustain recovery for over six years.
Brown: I get purpose. I found a passion. There was a spark that was fueled in me that turned into this all-consuming fire that has become the passion of my life. I love knowing that I get to help people.
Commissioner Tanner: That’s the easy button to access the system. And when we talk about 988, it’s important to understand it’s more than a three digit calling number. It’s a continuum of care. So, behind that person who answers the phone has to be an army.
North: With the 988 crisis line becoming more widely known, there’s definitely going to be an increased need for social workers, for human services professional, for paraprofessionals and everyone within that relm that’s able to help.
Commissioner Tanner: We’ve had some good support from the Governor and the General Assembly and they’ve given us pay packages and that has helped.
Commissioner Tanner: One of the things we’ve done at our hospital job fairs been providing instant feedback.
Commissioner Tanner: We’re doing onsite drug testing, we’re doing onsite background checks. We’re doing onsite interviews, same day as a job fair so that we can extend a conditional offer that day.
Brown: Until you get here and you see the beauty that is working in the field of mental health, you don’t understand.
Commissioner Tanner: By working in this field, there’s a real opportunity to make a difference. And that difference will outlast your life.
Brown: I get the opportunity to work hand in hand with them and love them and watch them from day one coming from right over there in the crisis center to coming over here, getting their medication and a year later walking out of here. Just new people with wings spread, ready to soar. It’s beautiful.
