The Georgia Recovery Project (GRP), a COVID-19 focused arm of the Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD), received an extension that will allow their services to help Georgians through March 2022. The workforce shortage in the mental health field served as a prime catalyst for FEMA & SAMHSA to continue the GRP’s services, with the US Chamber of Commerce recently polling Americans who became unemployed during the pandemic and more than half (53%) saying they were “not very active at all” in their current job searches.

The GRP provides counseling to all Georgians via the Emotional Support Line (ESL) – a hotline, accessible via call and text messaging, that provides an outlet for those struggling with handling their emotions – as well as routing to community resources. The ESL is free, confidential and allows all callers to remain anonymous.