Santa Barbara County residents will soon be introduced to a small telephone number with big benefits.

Several counties in California are introducing a new free line that officials hope will offer people help during nonemergency situations. Anyone can call the new line 2-1-1 starting July 1 to receive information related to social services, including everything from counseling for suicidal thoughts or domestic abuse to questions about voting locations.

"It's a pretty big deal," said Bill Batty, executive director of Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara. "It's really going to simplify things and provide big support to the county."

The Family Service Agency is the local organization providing the service, and for the past 11 years has been operating a 24/7 hotline to provide similar information, so Batty said he is eager to take on the new task.

The process to get the telephone number implemented began five years ago when United Way of America approached the federal government and asked for the implementation of a three-digit health and human service line, to simplify the process where citizens can call and get information, Batty said.

Another benefit of the new line is that nonemergency calls can be weeded away from 9-1-1 and handled more efficiently by the new staff. In addition, the new line's operators will have a working relationship with other county providers to link people with the services they need to handle a crisis.

"We want to get information to people, and address whatever crisis they are having," Batty said. "In some cases, this involves passing the person onto another local agency."

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The operators are bilingual and bicultural, and have extensive training and experience in counseling and providing resources to callers, Batty said.

"We make sure everyone handles a suicide call with a partner before leaving them alone," he said. "It's called a mentor system."

Although the program is federally mandated, Batty said there is no federal funding for the program. Instead it survives through money donated from local and state government and private foundations.

"It's really a struggle, hopefully we'll get some more money soon," Batty said.

Previously, the agency received approximately 12,000 calls annually, but with the new extended services call volume is expected to increase to more than 40,000 a year.

Randi Block can be reached at 347-4580 or rblock@santamariatimes.com.

June 13, 2005