SAIPAN — The CHCC Community Guidance Center is reminding the community that behavioral health support remains available through the 988 Behavioral Health Crisis Lifeline and ongoing outreach services as recovery from Super Typhoon Sinlaku continues.
The 988 line has returned to its regular hours of Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. All after-hours calls are directed to the national hotline to keep support available whenever it is needed. Beyond crisis response, 988 also serves as an access point for behavioral health support and outreach, with trained staff conducting wellness checks, assessing needs, coordinating referrals, and connecting individuals and families with services and resources.
The Community Guidance Center said it remains committed to supporting typhoon survivors, frontline workers, older adults, families, children, and other vulnerable residents. Recovery is not only about rebuilding physical infrastructure, the center said, but also about addressing the emotional and psychological effects a disaster can leave behind.
Since the storm, center staff have carried out behavioral health outreach through shelters, aid distribution sites, home visits, and wellness check-in calls. Those efforts have produced more than 1,300 community encounters, including 309 shelter encounters, 523 aid site encounters, 85 home visits, and 397 wellness and clinical check-in calls.
The center has also completed 53 case management and care coordination efforts, made 116 referrals and linkages to behavioral health services, connected 107 individuals to medical services, and linked residents to 364 community resources. More than 1,000 resources, including wellness kits and care packages, have been distributed to families throughout the recovery.
CHCC said the Community Guidance Center submitted an application for the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program as soon as it became available following the Presidential Major Disaster Declaration. The application is under review, and the center said it is hopeful for a favorable decision that would let the program be activated locally.
If approved, the program would expand community outreach and emotional support by providing education, coping skills support, resource referrals, and recovery assistance for residents affected by the disaster. It is also expected to create temporary jobs for local residents working as crisis counselors and outreach workers. CHCC said it will keep the community informed as updates become available.
