Isabel Byon: 0:00

The New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, or OASAS, provides this podcast as a public service. Thoughts and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent or reflect those of the agency or state. This is Addiction: The Next Step.

Jerry Gretzinger: 0:18

Hello, out there everybody.

Jerry Gretzinger: 0:19

Jerry Gretzinger, your host for Addiction the Next Step, and we appreciate you checking us out for this episode. Today we're going to actually take a deeper dive into something that we talk about all the time and no doubt if you've listened to us once, you've probably heard us say it a million times. We talk about our hope line 877-8-HOPE-NY. That's the hope line we've had for years here at New York State OASAS, and what that's there for is to provide help to people when they need it, whenever they need it. Right, it is literally 24-7.

Jerry Gretzinger: 0:50

You can pick up the phone, dial 877-8-HOPE-NY and someone is there to talk you through whatever you need to discuss, and I think you know a lot of times people wonder okay, well, who's on the other end of the phone? How does this work? What happens when I make the phone call and what can I really call about? I think a lot of people immediately assume we want people to call if they have a substance use disorder concern or something like that, but it goes beyond that. So these are all the questions we're going to work to answer today, and we've got two people who know what they're talking about to help us answer those questions. They are Rebecca Cooper. You've seen her before. She's from our Problem Gambling Bureau. She's the director of that. Also, Ivory Golden is here. She's the program manager with the specialized services for the New York State HOPEline. Thank you, ladies both, for joining us today.

Rebecca Cooper: 1:35

Thanks for having me. Yes, thank you.

Jerry Gretzinger: 1:37

And so I'm going to start with the first question. You know the HOPEline. I mentioned, Rebecca, that people may think, oh okay, Office of Addiction Services and Supports. If someone is having a concern about substance use, I can call that number. But we want to point out we also do a lot of work, obviously, helping people with problem gambling, and the hope line is there for them as well.

Rebecca Cooper: 1:57

Correct. Yeah, and Ivory will talk a little bit more about the specifics, but the HOPEline is for anyone that's affected by substance use and or gambling challenges, and not just for someone that may be experiencing them that to themselves, but for a family member or community member or anybody that needs more information, more support and, on the problem gambling piece of it, you know, one of the things that we also offer through Vibrant Behavioral Health, who runs the HOPEline for us, is they also are offered a warm transfer, after they talk to a clinician at the Hope Line, to one of our problem gambling resource centers to help continue to facilitate access to care in their community. So it's a really great service from beginning to end.

Jerry Gretzinger: 2:44

And you know we've said this a couple of different times when we sit down to speak to people on the podcast and we talk about, start the conversation right. If you have questions, if you're not sure what to do about something, whether it's you yourself experiencing it or you're witnessing a loved one or a friend start a conversation, because that's how you start moving towards getting some information and answers. And this is one of those ways you can start that conversation and it's you know. You pick up a phone wherever you're at. You know there's absolutely no judgment at all. You don't lose anything. It's free, it's confidential. It's a great way to get the conversation started. So now, Ivory, I'm going to switch over to you. So you know people are saying, okay, well, this is a great service. I'm going to give the number again 877-8-HOPE-NY, and that's how you can reach the HOPEline. But they pick up the phone, they dial the number, somebody answers. Talk to us now about what's happening, who the people are on the other end of the line.

Ivory Golden: 3:39

Sure. So the other people on the line that are answering the Hope Line are our crisis counselors and they are there to kind of collect the information, get an assessment of what's going on with the problem gambling concern, offer up any additional support, any additional psychoeducation surrounding problem gambling and the effects of it. And then the primary goal is to get that caller informed that texts are connected to a PGRC where they can get additional supports outpatient treatment, maybe some financial counseling, things like that.

Jerry Gretzinger: 4:12

Okay, and I just just so everybody knows you said PGRC, so I want to make sure you break that down for people it stands for.

Ivory Golden: 4:17

PGRC is a problem gambling resource center. They are the experts, they specialize in problem gambling and the support surrounding problem gambling and its effects, and that's where we want to get that call over to.

Ivory Golden: 4:33

So we're supporting getting that information and then passing them on to the problem gambling resource center

Jerry Gretzinger: 4:36

And Ivory. You just mentioned something too every every episode, I am by saying you can call the new york state hope line 877-8-HOPE-NY. But you also mentioned and I've been trying to say it more often you can also text that line.

Ivory Golden: 4:47

yeah, and we think that's a great option.

Ivory Golden: 4:49

as you mentioned, people want to feel comfortable whenever they reach out for support, so that is an avenue, a pathway where they feel connected and confidential piece is a big piece about texting.

Jerry Gretzinger: 4:59

And the same type of people with the same type of training. On the other end of that text, as with the call.

Ivory Golden: 5:04

Yes, same thing, whatever happens or crisis council is managed.

Ivory Golden: 5:08

Phone and text and chats yeah.

Jerry Gretzinger: 5:10

That's great. So obviously that hasn't always been a part of what the hope line was. How long has it been? I mean, if you don't have the exact number of years, that's fine, but how long has the text been part of that option?

Ivory Golden: 5:23

The text option has been around for quite some time, I think around the same time as when we launched that problem gambling piece but the hope line, so I would say 2018, 2019.

Jerry Gretzinger: 5:33

Okay, all right, great, great. I know the hope line has been around for so long.

Jerry Gretzinger: 5:36

It's so nice that it's kind of grown and matured to include text now, which is such a preferred messaging option for lots of people. All right so. So somebody calls the line, they, they get one of these people on the other end of the line. And, Rebecca, you referred to something as a warm handoff right.

Jerry Gretzinger: 5:51

And I know and again inside OASAS we know what that means. But so somebody out there listening now says, okay, I make a phone call. How long before they're telling me to call somebody else? I mean, what's the average length of a call to the HOPEline before they say, all right, there's somebody else that we want to have you speak with?

Rebecca Cooper: 6:07

Well, I think the most important thing about the HOPEline, as we've talked about, it's usually the first point of contact for a lot of people when they're reaching out for help, and so, like Ivory said, they gather some basic demographic information, find out where they're at. That can take a couple of minutes and then they will offer three support referrals while they're on the line with them so that they have something immediate in their hands where they can, you know, make a call or make a connection to a local community-based service. In addition to that, they also are offered the option for the HOPEline operator to do a warm transfer to a problem-gambling resource center. And the reason that we added that is because a lot of times, people are calling in some type of financial crisis or something like that, and we want them to be able to immediately connect into their community. And so once they're given those three referrals, they offer them what we call a warm transfer to a problem gambling resource center.

Rebecca Cooper: 7:06

The counselor stays on the line with them. They offer it. The caller says, yes, I'm interested. They warm transfer them to let's just say they're calling from Buffalo to the Western Problem Gambling Resource Center. They stay on the line with them, they pick up the phone on the other end and then they take it from there and then they would start to talk to them a little bit more about the three referrals that they were given from the HOPEline and say, okay, let's talk a little bit more about this. How can we help you? So they're a little bit more of a more community focused in the callers area. So that's what we mean by a warm transfer to keep people connected.

Jerry Gretzinger: 7:40

And so you know, I know we've sort of talked around this a little bit, but I think sometimes people know that there's a line like this that's available. It doesn't necessarily have to just be for the person who's experiencing the problem gambling issue or the substance use disorder issue, as the case may be. It can be someone, a loved one, a friend, who's looking to find out. Okay, how can I approach this subject? What can I do to help them?

Rebecca Cooper: 8:04

Yeah, and it's often usually the first point of contact for anyone right and as you said for OASAS, that's our go-to number, that we put on everything, and I think it's also important to understand that you don't have to be in crisis to call the HOPEline either. Right and definitely t he counselors are trained in dealing with crisis and immediate and you know Ivory can talk more about that. But we also want people to call that are curious or have some questions or might think somebody I work with might have a problem or are concerned about my son more from a preventative standpoint, so that they can make that call and start that dialogue.

Jerry Gretzinger: 8:42

Yeah, Ivory, she was just getting into this. That was going to be my next question for you. I would imagine. Not everyone, but some people might call at a point where you know they're like standing at the precipice, right, and they're thinking okay, I'm considering opening up another card to get more money, to continue my gambling or to do something that's going to make the situation potentially worse, and they need to talk to somebody at that moment to figure out what to do right.

Ivory Golden: 9:08

Yeah, yeah.

Jerry Gretzinger: 9:09

So those types of calls come in.

Ivory Golden: 9:10

Those types of calls come in, we're 24-7, so we can manage those calls at any time. And if anyone just needs in-the-moment support because that's what that sounds like kind of stuck in that decision- where where do I want to go with this?

Ivory Golden: 9:23

I need someone to maybe talk to. They can do that and the counselor can provide brief emotional support. So, Rebecca's point, as far as crisis goes, or if someone is at high risk, they can call, get support and then we're going to provide that crisis intervention and connection to ongoing care or the highest level of intervention, which would be 911, if that person necessarily needs that.

Jerry Gretzinger: 9:46

Right, and I think you both mentioned, you know, the training that some of the folks who are answering these calls have so that they can respond to any situation that maybe they're presented with.

Ivory Golden: 9:55

And all of our counselors. We have about 20 or 30 counselors that do manage the whole plan. They're all BA level counselors, but I do want to note that all of our master's level and licensed counselors are also trained on the HOPEline and might manage those calls as well. Training consists of anyone that comes through the HOPEline is trained in the same manner. It doesn't matter what skill set you have. So that includes interventions, crisis intervention. That includes database training, supports as far as APS, CPS, those other protocols that we do if someone is at high risk.

Jerry Gretzinger: 10:32

Yeah, that's great and I you know, we always say this and we've said it a lot recently in podcast episodes, but you know, we just we want to encourage people to start the conversation and this is this is the easiest route to do that. Pick up the phone, 877-8-HOPE-NY, and there's somebody there ready to talk to you you know who's going to be understanding, supportive and helpful, so we can't ask for more than that on the other end of the line.

Rebecca Cooper: 10:54

Yeah, and you know one of the things I'll add to what Ivory said, which is that we have a great partnership with the HOPE line and you know we communicate very regularly with them and one of the things that we do is get feedback from them and feedback from the counselors that are answering the line and as things have evolved, like during the opioid crisis or the increase in expansion of gambling opportunities, we actually will find out what more information do they need, what more training would be helpful for them, and then either we OASAS staff or a community community-based provider will have them participate in one of their training online trainings and actually give them additional resources or additional information related to, you know, the topic that they're hearing a trend on or something like that. So it's a very important sort of fluid partnership and always making sure that the staff that are answering the lines are well-versed in you know, sort of what we're seeing on a state level.

Jerry Gretzinger: 11:51

Right, the latest information, the best way they can find to help people.

Ivory Golden: 11:54

I was going to say that, Jerry, ongoing trainings, refreshers, collaboration with OASAS to make sure that counselors are up to speed and up to date mental health field. Any changes in problem gambling.

Jerry Gretzinger: 12:06

All right. So people who are calling are in good hands and it helps them get started on their journey. So that's what we want people to do Pick up that phone and get it started, because there's a lot of people on the other end waiting to help you. Rebecca Cooper, Ivory Golden thank you both for sitting down with us today to talk about this. I think you know we've talked about the HOPEline for so long it's nice to take the opportunity to explain what it is and what it can do so I appreciate it.

Rebecca Cooper: 12:26

Thank you so much.

Jerry Gretzinger: 12:27

All right, and again, I'll give it one more time, because you know why not 877-8-HOPE-NY, and you know if you also want to hop online, you can go to our website oasas. ny. gov, O-A-S-A-S, dot N-Y, dot G-O-V. Lots of information there that can be very, very helpful. We just want you to start the conversation, so there's a few ways to do it. I'm Jerry Gretzinger, your host for Addiction: The Next Step. Until we see you next time, be well.