CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This past year and a half has been filled with a lot of stress, with violence in North Carolina and of course, the pandemic. 

Some people don’t know where to turn when dealing with these tough emotions. 

April C., a clinician at Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, said she gets around 50 calls a week. Although they saw a dip in calls during the pandemic, they are right back up to the numbers they’re used to for this time of year. 

“You don’t have to wait until you’re in crisis,” April said.

April said a majority of her calls are her connecting people in the community with resources to find a therapist or support group. 

“If you have had a few bad weeks and no one understands you, I mean just any warning signs that your body is sending to you, it may be time to talk to someone,” April said.

She said she has seen an increase in substance use disorder calls recently.

“Most of them are looking for treatment programs to get the education and the coping skills associated with treatment,” April said.

April said this past year and past few months have been really difficult times for people to process through, and she hopes to see more calls coming to her desk. 

“The stigma behind mental illness is what drives the amount of crisis calls we get. I do believe there are a lot more people in crisis out there, but they’re so afraid to reach out,” April said.

She wants to normalize treatment for mental health. She said if it was normalized, it could eliminate so many problem the country is currently facing. 

“If I didn’t personally have a therapist or someone to talk to about this, I don’t know how well I’d cope,” April said.

“Especially in our current climate, we can see the shootings, the social injustice. I mean, everything that goes on, it’s stress related to all of that. People reaching out is so important, I can’t stress that enough,” April said.

If you would like to get in contact with the crisis line, you can call 800-939-5911 or **ASK from a cell phone.