Wake County Publishes Mental Health Guide for Crisis Help, Peer Support, Treatment

Residents seeking immediate crisis help, peer support, or longer-term treatment can use this consolidated list of Wake County contacts and service sites: call 911 in life-threatening situations; dial 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline; call or text HopeLine Crisis Intervention at (919) 231-4525 or (877) 235-4525; or reach NAMI at 1 (800) 950-6264. Trans Lifeline is listed at (877) 565-8860 and The Trevor Project at (866) 488-7386 for additional national support.

"Call 911 immediately in life-threatening situations." For non-life-threatening suicidal crises and emotional distress, note that "In case of an emergency, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States." Local HopeLine numbers and NAMI's 1-800-950-6264 are included as state-level and peer-support entry points.

Wake County Public Health has moved to 200 Swinburne St., Raleigh, NC 27610, and county-wide initiatives tie mental-health work to broader community supports. Live Well Wake "aims to make Wake County the healthiest community in the nation for all residents – regardless of background, neighborhood or circumstance – to be able to not just live, but to flourish." The Social and Economic Vitality Initiative within Live Well Wake is focused on Southeast Raleigh and eastern Wake County communities including Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon.

Clinical and specialty services for serious mental illness include UNC STEP Community Clinic, Wake County, located at 3010 Falstaff Road in Raleigh with hours 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday and a single phone line for Wake STEP Clinic offices at 919.445.0350. The UNC-Chapel Hill STEP team includes "psychiatrists, psychiatry residents, clinical social workers, peer specialists, nurses, and others" and provides "illness education and medication management" as well as coping and relapse prevention strategies.

Wake STEP Clinic was created for approximately 500 Wake County individuals with severe behavioral needs who were transferred from the Wake County Human Services Department to UNC Healthcare on July 1, 2013. UNC STEP operates regional clinics on a limited-time basis in Wake Forest, Zebulon and Fuquay Varina and lists the Southern Regional Center - Fuquay Varina as a regional office. For people in the Wake County area who require inpatient state hospital care, most are admitted to Central Regional Hospital in Butner; "on average, stays at state hospitals are not very long—usually one to two weeks but can be as long as several months when needed," and hospital social workers handle discharge planning.

Mobile and community-access points include the Zebulon mobile clinic at 1002 Dogwood Dr., Zebulon, N.C., phone (919) 375-4453, fax (919) 375-4648, hours Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Nonclinical supports listed for coping and basic needs include iChill online coping tools, End Hunger Durham for food security connections, and A Place at the Table, a pay-what-you-can café in Raleigh fostering community and connection through shared meals.

Private practices and local directories are noted alongside crisis lines. "Evergreen Integrative Therapy, PLLC does not offer immediate appointments or emergency services. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or have suicidal thoughts, please call 911 or reference the resources below." For searchable listings and referrals, use findhelp.org and the Wake County Mental Health Network of Care directory to locate behavioral health services across Wake County. These consolidated contacts are intended to make crisis support, peer-run options and treatment pathways easier to find — from 988 to UNC STEP to county-level initiatives at 200 Swinburne St.