By JEANETTE WOLFBERG
HUDSON–The Columbia County Department of Human Services (DHS) has updated its comprehensive Behavioral Health Services Resources Guide for Columbia and Greene Counties, this time expanding the scope of resources and adding an Artificial (AI) navigation tool to help users find what they need, DHS Dual Recovery Coordinator John Cahill reported on February 28 and March 31. The guide update went live in January. The update was part of a project to polish a clearinghouse for information on services for people impacted by addiction and related issues. The project’s next goals, Mr. Cahill added, are to set up a 24-hour-a-day resource phone line associated with the guide and a marketing campaign for it by People USA.
The guide lists addiction and mental health support services in Columbia and Greene counties, plus services for regions and political entities that encompass these counties, plus additional supports that people using those services could find helpful. (Additional supports range from food pantries to employment counseling to services for the blind, Mr. Cahill said.) To “streamline” on-line searches, the new version uses an AI Workflow Chatbox. The full guide, when printed, would be about 150 pages.
When Mr. Cahill started on the project in September 2024, he found the resource guide had last been updated in 2022. Now, he said, it will be updated every six months. He envisioned sending an email every six months to organizations listed in the guide, proactively asking whether they have changes in the information. And he said he welcomes constructive criticism to help “create a better product.”
The next leg of the project, Mr. Cahill said, is developing a 24-hour telephone Resource Line, to “add a more personalized component” to finding the resources one needs, using the guide. Columbia Pathways to Recovery already has a helpline to help people connect with addiction support services. In fact, the Columbia Greene Addiction Coalition (CGAC) recommends it for guiding people to resources, said CGAC’s Executive Director Hannah Calhoun on March 31. The Pathways helpline operates from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It’s number, Mr. Cahill said, is 877-HOPE-365 (877-467-3365).
The new Resource Line will expand the connection possibilities to “mental health services, housing supports, employment services, pro-social recovery events, etc,” Mr. Cahill said. The volunteers manning the Resource Line phones will use the updated guide as a tool for providing information and referrals to the caller. It will operate 24 hours a day.
Rensselaer County already has a funded “comprehensive phone line,” Ms. Calhoun reported.
Like Columbia Pathways helpline, the resource line would be staffed by volunteers. Pathways’ helpline, which is based in Chatham, was not funded until the opioid settlement, Ms. Calhoun added.
Mr. Cahill said that the only organization he knows of that right now uses the updated Behavioral Health Resource Guide is the Columbia County Mental Health Association. The guide “is a valuable tool,” but “I don’t know” how many people know about it, said Ms. Calhoun.
To help more people know about the guide and its upcoming resource line, last month the Columbia County Board of Supervisors authorized a contract with People USA to market the resource line. For this, the county will pay People USA up to $35,000 of the $119,158 that the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) has awarded the DHS this year as part of Opioid Settlement Regional Abatement. People USA, according to Google, “is a peer-run mental health non-profit that creates, provides, and promotes…innovative crisis response and wellness services.”
The marketing campaign is still under design, Mr. Cahill said. Ms. Calhoun said that a goal is to make the guide accessible in as many ways possible, so that people can make use of it the way they are most comfortable with — whether online, by telephone, or by print out.
A clearing house to inventory available resources and what they do and do not cover was goal of the Opioid Epidemic Response Plan the Twin Counties developed in 2017. One reason was to identify needs not met by existing services, in order to show what new services should be developed for. Another was to guide people looking for help to the services they need.
Then in 2023, during conversations the county held to help determine how to spend opioid settlement money, people kept bringing up the need for various resources, Ms. Calhoun recalled. Meanwhile, there were resources, which people did not know about.
Accessing the Behavioral Health Resource Guide
HUDSON–You can access the chatbot navigation tool by visiting https://www.columbiacountymhc.com/resource-guide.html.
As you navigate to the Resource Guide Chatbot you will find instructions on how to best utilize this AI feature and a list of available tags that will help with narrowing your search to relevant resources.
Below the Chatbox is an icon you can click on to download a PDF version of the entire Resource Guide. The resources in the guide are organized alphabetically and by region. By clicking on an organization in the table of contents you will be able to quickly navigate to the listing for that specific resource.
