The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have approved a 90-day extension of the grant that funds the Crisis Counseling Program and ResilientArizona.org, extending services through March 2, 2022.
In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Crisis Counseling Program immediate service and regular service grants provided services to assist individuals and communities in recovering from the challenging effects of natural and human-caused disasters through the provision of community based disaster relief, outreach, and education.
AHCCCS was originally awarded the Crisis Counseling Program grants in June 2020 to launch ResilientArizona.org. Since then, both grants have served more than 17,000 unique individuals statewide with primary services including individual crisis counseling, group counseling/public education and brief education/supportive contact and reached more than 94,000 other contacts through hotline, helpline, lifeline, and other telephone contact; e-mail contact; community networking and coalition building; materials distributed; mass media; and social networking messages.
Solari Crisis and Human Services will continue to oversee crisis counseling services through the ResilientArizona.org Crisis Counseling Program. The program, free to any Arizona resident affected by COVID-19, offers confidential support services from the existing 2-1-1 statewide information and referral phone number, in English and Spanish. Crisis counselors help enhance social and emotional connections to others in the community, and promote effective coping strategies and resilience. The counselors also work closely with community organizations to familiarize themselves with available resources to then refer and connect individuals and families to other necessary services.
