Many people may be feeling a variety of emotions in the aftermath of the Birmingham mass shooting that took the lives of four people and injured 17 others in Five Points South.
Crisis Center Inc. in Birmingham is reminding community members of the free crisis and mental health resources available.
The center has a variety of call services, such as the 988 Call Center. 988 is the national suicide and crisis lifeline.
“People need to know they have help,” said Daisy Delmore, 988 Operations Director at Crisis Center Inc.“That’s what 988 is about. It is about supporting people in crisis, not just suicide, but a lot of things that trauma causes. It causes emotional distress and it causes people to want to harm themselves or maybe even others. We don’t want that to happen.”
People can call 988 24 hours, seven days a week to reach someone.
Employees at the call center can offer immediate support, as well as direct people to more resources such as other call lines and counseling services.
Additional resources offered by the nonprofit include:
- Birmingham Crisis Line: 205-323-7777
- Youth Talk Line: 205-328-5465
- Senior Talk Line: 205-328-8255
- Rape Response/SANE: 205-323-7273
- Recovery Resource Center: 205-458-3377
“There is vicarious trauma where you can be traumatized by the fact that you are watching the news and you are seeing this happen, the fact that you know family members and people, your community has been affected by this can affect you. It is really important no matter if you are leaders in the community, no matter who you are, young or old, that you know you can still call and get help. It affects us. You shouldn’t feel ashamed that you are bothered by this because you care,” said Delmore.
A Birmingham mass shootingvictim’s resource and support page has also been established through the U.S. Department of Justice.