Jackson County Mental Health hopes that a new after-hours contract with the nonprofit Lines for Life will allow local staff to shift resources to the middle of the day, when the line is most active.

The local 24/7 mental health crisis line at 541-774-8201 will switch its after-hours answering to Lines for Life’s Portland-based call center starting 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, according to Jackson County Mental Health manager Rick Rawlins.

Rawlins, a licensed clinical social worker, said the goal is for the after-hours transition to be seamless for Jackson County residents calling the crisis line. 

“We will get notified every morning of every call that they took,” Rawlins said, adding that Jackson County Mental Health staff will get an email every morning of the calls Lines for Life took on the county’s behalf. “We will then be able to do further follow-up if any is needed.”

Lines for Life already fields traffic from across Oregon dialed or texted to 988, the easy-to-remember national suicide prevention and mental health crisis line that went into effect in July 2022. The 988 hotline is funded by a 40 cent monthly tax on phone lines, and funds roughly 225 call centers across the country.

Jackson County’s mental health crisis line has previously been operated round-the-clock by local clinicians, but Rawlins described staffing as a challenge. He said it’s hard to find masters-level clinicians willing to work the night shift, and late night and predawn calls are rare.

“The vast majority of our calls are during the day,” Rawlins said. “They can now come on during the day when we get the majority of our calls.”

Rawlins said that the state has also increased funding that allows for those mental health workers moved to the day shift to help more people out in the field.

“We’ll be able to go into the community and respond,” Rawlins said. “That way we can increase our mobile crisis support into the community.”

Jackson County commissioners Wednesday morning approved the $81,800 agreement with the Portland-based nonprofit. It runs until the end of June 2025 and includes a $2,000 one-time setup fee, according to a synopsis on the county’s agenda. It references a “behavioral health workforce emergency” declared earlier this year with the passage of Oregon House Bill 2235.

Commissioners Rick Dyer and Colleen Roberts approved the service agreement with minimal discussion. Commissioner Dave Dotterrer did not attend the meeting.

“I think we would prefer to have our staff able to answer these calls, but we certainly need somebody there for when folks are in crisis,” Dyer said.

“It doubles our efforts, that’s for sure,” Roberts said.