Crisis Intervention Services

Any individual needing immediate crisis assistance can call the 24-hr Crisis Hotline at (585) 593-5706 or toll-free at (888) 448-3367. If face to face contact is needed, Crisis Consultants are available 24 hours a day.

The purpose of the Allegany County Crisis Line is to provide confidential counseling, information and referral services on a 24 hour basis, with the primary goal to assure telephone support to callers who need to talk to a counselor with the main objective to offer immediate response to emergency situations.

Because the Allegany County Crisis Line is seen as a method of preventing hospitalization for some individuals, frequent calls are encouraged. However, the Crisis Line is NOT a source of socialization for isolated or lonely consumers. If the caller needs socialization, then this can be a top of discussion as a problem to be addressed.

The second goal is to refer people to appropriate services. The Crisis Line can serve as an information and referral source in non-emergency and non-crisis situations. To facilitate this process, the Crisis Hotline cooperates with other Social Service agencies as well as other community resources.

Crisis Modalities
There are 3 intervention modalities that are used in the performance of the Crisis Line:

A. Telephone Counseling
     This is the development of a relationship between caller and counselor toward exploration of presenting problems and potential resolutions.

B. Telephone Assessment
    The Crisis Line volunteer and the caller work together as a team to collectively assess the need for service. The volunteer must stress the limits of our service as well as respond and clarify the request for service and our ability to respond and resolve the situation.

C. Direct Contact
     If the Crisis Line volunteer makes the determination that the crisis is serious and warrants an immediate response, he/she will contact the Crisis Consultant on call, who will make face-to-face contact with the consumer for direct crisis intervention.

Be A Crisis Hotline Volunteer (Link)

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