{"id":5764,"date":"2015-06-02T14:51:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T19:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gnof.org\/?p=5764"},"modified":"2015-06-05T13:53:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T18:53:06","slug":"via-link-texting-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/","title":{"rendered":"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/208491239&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nVIA LINK provides information, referrals, training and crisis intervention to people, organizations and communities so they can help themselves and others.<\/p>\n<p>The VIA LINK call center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to listen, answer questions and provide resources to people who call 211 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If a caller is in crisis, the confidential counselor who answers will start helping them on the spot.<\/p>\n<p>Lavondra Dobbs, CEO for VIA LINK, says the counselor will begin assessing the caller\u2019s needs, \u201clistening to their story, seeing how they can best help them prioritize their needs to be addressed and provide some information and resources for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VIA LINK is housed in New Orleans, but answers 211 calls for 10 Louisiana parishes. VIA LINK also answers about half of Louisiana\u2019s National Suicide Prevention Lifeline calls. In total, that\u2019s about 60,000 calls each year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVIA LINK actually started as a grassroots organization,\u201d says Dobbs. \u201cA group of volunteers came together knowing that people needed help and knowing that the resources were out there, but people didn\u2019t know how to get those resources or didn\u2019t know they existed. So they started collecting that information and sharing it and getting it out there. And those grew into what are now the 211\u2019s today. There are about 266 211\u2019s nation-wide that cover 93 percent of the United States. That\u2019s a free service that\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But over the years, VIA Link has seen a decrease in calls from young people. Why? Texting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a 25-year-old and a 16-year-old,\u201d says Dobbs. \u201cIf I call them, they don\u2019t answer; if I text them I get an immediate answer. So we thought if we could offer texting to youth, they would access mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>University studies confirm that youth are in crisis three times more than anyone else. VIA LINK needed to reach them. So this July, they\u2019ll launch a crisis texting program which will go into full swing by August, when young people return to school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe expect they\u2019ll be texting about bullying, self harm, eating disorders, sexual or physical abuse, sexuality and thoughts of suicide,\u201d says Dobbs.<\/p>\n<p>Texting may do more than reach young people. Chances are, it will help them more effectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTexters get to the problem much quicker and bond with a counselor more quickly and really share what\u2019s going on with them,\u201d hopes Dobbs. \u201cA level of trust tends to build much quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey may call about the fact that they\u2019re cutting, or that they\u2019re being molested by someone, or that they have a friend who has a very serious problem and they don\u2019t know how to help them,\u201d says a confidential counselor. \u201cAnd when they hear me say other kids call with the same problems and we help them work through that, I hear the tone change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They realize they are not alone \u2013 their problems aren&#8217;t\u00a0so unique that others can\u2019t understand, says one of VIA LINK&#8217;s confidential telephone counselors. She adds, with texting:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt may be a little bit more comfortable because they don\u2019t have to think about what to say \u2014 those very first bits of conversation,\u201d continues the counselor. \u201cOne of the things I hear very often is: I\u2019ve never called a line like this before.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what to say. I don\u2019t know where to start. And I\u2019ll just start with, &#8216;something was bothering you today. What did you want to tell me?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And with texting \u2013 where conversation gets right to the point \u2013 VIA LINK\u00a0hopes to help more young people open up.<\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Eve Abrams for the Community IMPACT Series and produced by WWNO in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Learn more about <a title=\"VIA LINK\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vialink.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">VIA LINK<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VIA LINK provides information, referrals, training and crisis intervention to people, organizations and communities so they can help themselves and others. The VIA LINK call center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to listen, answer questions and provide resources to people who call 211 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":5765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677,30],"tags":[350,876,445,449,875,698,100],"class_list":["post-5764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-small-feature","category-our-community","tag-community-impact","tag-crisis","tag-innovation","tag-pitch-it","tag-texting","tag-via-link","tag-wwno"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis | Greater New Orleans Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis | Greater New Orleans Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VIA LINK provides information, referrals, training and crisis intervention to people, organizations and communities so they can help themselves and others. The VIA LINK call center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to listen, answer questions and provide resources to people who call 211 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greater New Orleans Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-02T19:51:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-05T18:53:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/VIA-Link.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Communify Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Communify Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/\",\"name\":\"Greater New Orleans Foundation\",\"description\":\"The Greater New Orleans Foundation is the community foundation serving the 13-parish region of metropolitan New Orleans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/VIA-Link.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/VIA-Link.jpeg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"woman looking at two computer screens\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/\",\"name\":\"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis | Greater New Orleans Foundation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-02T19:51:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-05T18:53:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac\",\"name\":\"Communify Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Communify Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/author\/communify-team\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis | Greater New Orleans Foundation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis | Greater New Orleans Foundation","og_description":"VIA LINK provides information, referrals, training and crisis intervention to people, organizations and communities so they can help themselves and others. The VIA LINK call center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to listen, answer questions and provide resources to people who call 211 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If...","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/","og_site_name":"Greater New Orleans Foundation","article_published_time":"2015-06-02T19:51:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-05T18:53:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/VIA-Link.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Communify Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Communify Team","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/","name":"Greater New Orleans Foundation","description":"The Greater New Orleans Foundation is the community foundation serving the 13-parish region of metropolitan New Orleans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/VIA-Link.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/VIA-Link.jpeg","width":800,"height":480,"caption":"woman looking at two computer screens"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/","name":"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis | Greater New Orleans Foundation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-06-02T19:51:12+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-05T18:53:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/via-link-texting-program\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"VIA LINK Starts New Texting Program For People In Crisis"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/fcfdc3f3854c9135aab71d54b073ccac","name":"Communify Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7e15c88e1635281d8b26e1ba363edd86c0c79da9ae9a20c6705bcc1c7e01710?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Communify Team"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/author\/communify-team\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5764"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5767,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions\/5767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}