PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A hotline is helping Philadelphia students and families to deal with the stresses of the past year.
The Philly HopeLine — 1-833-PHL-HOPE (1-833-745-4673) — was launched last May, offering free counseling for students as they navigated the emotions and anxiety from the pandemic, gun violence and racial unrest. The line is staffed by clinicians from the nonprofit Uplift Center for Grieving Children.
The nature of calls to the HopeLine has evolved over the past year, according to Uplift Center leaders.
"In that first weeks to months, people were inside. We were kind of staying indoors. So we received a lot more kind of isolation-focused calls," executive director Darcy Walker Krause told reporters.
"We've now had about a year of this, so there have been losses to the pandemic, to gun violence. So as people are processing that, we're actually starting to get more of those calls where people need support."
Krause said the HopeLine received 281 calls in its first year, with about 40% coming from adults caring for students. She said the average call was 23 minutes but the calls from students themselves lasted twice as long.
The HopeLine, established with a $250,000 donation, is funded through December.