Have you been feeling extra stress as the economic news gets seemingly worse everyday? Are you worried about losing your job, or have you recently filed for unemployment?
You are not alone.
Call operators at Serra Mesa's 2-1-1 center have heard your story time and time again.
2-1-1 is a free, non-profit organization set up to pinpoint your exact needs and the best places for you to find help. They focus on health, social, and disaster service information. They don't provide the services themselves, but help find the exact place for you to find them.
Chief Operating Officer Mona Freels said, "24/7 you are going to get a live voice to help you with food. Thins like job training and job assistance, utility training and things that many other people aren't aware of."
She said call volume has recently gone from 13,000 calls to 21,000 a month--a 63 percent increase.
"The newspapers have really termed it the new face of the poor and it really is people like you and I, my neighbors, my friends, people that really need assistance now."
San Diego 2-1-1's CEO is in Washington now, lobbying leaders for more federal funding. Before becoming Secretary of State, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) sponsored two separate bills to get more federal support for the program.
Freels understands there needs to be public cut backs, but she thinks 2-1-1 can actually save taxpayers money. "When President Obama talks about those programs that are successful or working and are going to be kept and those that may not be, one thing we should look at is the efficiency of 2-1-1."
For Freels, 2-1-1 is more effective because, "rather than opening up the yellow pages and calling up to 20 different agencies and only getting help from one, we're going to do pre-screening and the numbers you get from us are really places you are going to be able to get help from."
2-1-1 counselor Thelma said recently callers have been from higher income levels and feel more "ashamed" because they've never asked for help before.
"The services they want to use, they would rather have for other people they feel are more deserving" she said.
Thelma herself knows the power of 2-1-1 because she once called. "I was having problems with my credit cards because I was unemployed at the time."
She ended up getting a job--as a 2-1-1 counselor--and five years later her life experience still comes in handy. "You tend to relate to the person. Sometimes we've gone through what they've gone through."
She said it is tough not taking the problems from the office home with her after dealing with desperate people all day. But she tells herself the same thing she tells them--relax, calm down, and take a deep breath.
Often, she said, the key is just being there to listen to people vent.
One thing she has learned, there is a way to get better. "There's hope and we're here to help!"
2-1-1 is available 24/7, in 150 languages, and is totally free. From anywhere in San Diego County, just dial 2-1-1
