News Flash

For Immediate Release

08/22/2020                        

Phone: 980-432-1800
Website: www.rowancountync.gov/covid-19
Email: covid-19@rowancountync.gov

Rowan County Case Information: https://bit.ly/rowan-covid19-hub

NC DHHS Expanding Mental Health Supports for Teachers, School Personnel, and Their Families

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is expanding the Hope4Healers Helpline to serve North Carolina’s teachers, school personnel and their families.

With schools now open, NCDHHS and the NC Psychological Foundation are providing school personnel and their families with mental health and resilience supports. The Hope4Healers Helpline is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week. When you contact the helpline, you will speak to someone who is trained to listen and offer support. You will then be contacted within about a day by a licensed mental health professional for a free, confidential, short-term follow-up by phone or video chat.

“Our children across the state will be best served by educators and school staff who are taking care of their own mental health needs,” said NCDHHS Deputy Secretary for Behavioral Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Kody Kinsley. “Our educators and school teams are working in an unprecedented situation on the front lines of the state’s COVID-19 response. We want to make sure they have access to the mental health and resilience supports they may need to feel like their best selves in the classroom – whether they are teaching in-person or remotely.”

NCDHHS launched the Hope4Healers Helpline earlier this year in partnership with the North Carolina Psychological Foundation and has served over 160 people to date. The helpline has been providing mental health and resilience counseling for first responders, health care and child care professionals, other staff who work in those settings and their families throughout the state who are experiencing stress from being on the front lines of the state’s COVID-19 response.

For more information, please visit Hope4NC Helpline or call 1-855-587-3463.

Additional resources and information on staying physically and mentally healthy can be found on the Managing your Overall Health and Wellness Resources.

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Contact:
TJ Brown
704-216-8918
tj.brown@rowancountync.gov

Download Media Release COVID-19 - August 22, 2020 (PDF)