RHD New Perspectives program establishes local center for National Suicide Prevention Lifeline callers

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On January 1, 2019, at 12:01 AM, New Perspectives went live as a crisis center in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s national network of local centers, better serving callers in distress by connecting people in the Poconos region with life-saving resources.

New Perspectives, a Stroudsburg-based RHD program providing residential and mobile crisis services for people with mental health challenges, is one of only eight centers in Pennsylvania offering support to people calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

“Currently people from Carbon, Monroe, and Pike Counties may be routed to national backup centers outside of Pennsylvania when they call the Lifeline,” said New Perspectives Program Director Michael Usino. “With RHD New Perspectives joining the Lifeline, we will be able to assist callers with first-hand knowledge of local services, interventions and resources available.”

RHD New Perspectives in the news

RHD New Perspectives joining the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as a local call center as covered by BRC-News 13 (“Monroe County Crisis Center Offering New Services”), WBRE-TV (“Local Organization Answers National Suicide Hotline Calls”), and WNEP-TV (“Helping People in Crisis in the Poconos”). Click on the links to see how RHD New Perspectives is better serving callers in distress by connecting people in the Poconos region with life-saving resources backed by first-hand knowledge of local services, interventions and resources available.

The phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The National Suicide Prevention 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, seven days a week. The Lifeline is funded by SAMHSA and administered by Vibrant Emotional Health.

New Perspectives is a short-term residential program for adults in Carbon, Monroe and Pike counties. The program provides supervised mental health stabilization services as an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization for individuals who are in psychiatric crisis, or who may need to be removed from a stressful environment while supports are identified to ensure stability. New Perspectives also provides telephone and mobile crisis intervention services that provide assessment, crisis intervention counseling, crisis stabilization, referral and linkage with other services, and assessment of the need for emergency hospitalization at consumers’ homes or at other community locations.

RHD founded New Perspectives in 1998.