Crisis Center of Jefferson County

Mission

The Crisis Center was established in 1970 with the sole purpose of providing aid to individuals in crisis in our community. Through the support of our hundred-plus volunteers, as well as the financial support of generous individuals and organizations, we are able to provide 24 hour services, 365 days a year. Our services are delivered in three categories: Crisis Prevention & Intervention, Sexual Assault Support Services and Mental Health Support Services.

Crisis Prevention & Intervention

We operate four phone counseling lines – the Crisis & Suicide Line, Teen Link, Kids Help Line and the Senior Talk Line. Additionally, we have a Rape Response hotline available around the clock to respond to persons who have experienced sexual assault. On all of our phone lines, our goal is to provide empathy, validate the caller’s feelings, and help each client find a way forward, specific to their situation. As necessary, we may provide additional resource referral for long time services such as connecting clients with support groups, individual or family counseling, or other resources deemed helpful. Because crisis may occur at any hour, we have made it an imperative to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Sexual Assault Support

It is estimated that anywhere from one in four to one in five women will experience sexual assault at some point in her life, and that at least one in ten men will be assaulted. We know that only approximately 10% of individuals who are assaulted report the crime. By talking about this subject openly and publicly, we hope to help erase stigmas associated with sexual violence and thereby create an environment that invites more survivors to come forward. The Crisis Center offers counseling, legal, emotional and medical advocacy and medical support for survivors of sexual assault. With state of the art equipment and specially trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, we are able to collect the best available evidence while also providing compassionate care for survivors. These services are available as needed, 24 hours a day.

Mental Health Support

Our mental health services program, aka Piper Place, is delivered through the Mental Health Association at each of our three locations – in Birmingham, Bessemer and Oneonta, Alabama. It is the mission of the Mental Health Association to assist consumers who have a diagnosis of a serious mental illness with improving their quality of life and to achieve their desired mental and behavioral health outcomes. We do this through a rehabilitative day program offered 5 days a week to qualifying individuals who desire to get more out of their recovery.

A secondary mission of the Mental Health Association is to advocate for improved mental health services. As a part of this, we also provide education, consultation, information and referral, and prevention services to the community.

Education & Outreach

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for adolescents in the US. Our suicide prevention educator trains students in middle and high school on how to recognize the warning signs of suicide as well as provides steps to take to aid friends in getting help they need. Additionally, we offer QPR (Question, Persuade, Referral) training for faculty and staff of schools and community organizations who work with high risk populations.

The Crisis Center is committed to preventing sexual violence in our community by offering educational sessions for school age youth, college students and professionals working with youth. These sessions focus on bullying, healthy relationships, empathy, bystander intervention and conflict resolution. Our education team focuses on addressing attitudes and behaviors that are precursors to sexual violence in an effort to stop violence before it occurs. During our bystander intervention training, participants are educated on how to help individuals in high risk situations.