Holiday blues? 'You don't have to suffer alone' in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- For many, the end-of-year holidays are the most wonderful time of the year. But for others, the holidays can be a difficult and complicated time.

There are several free and 24-hour support lines, like 988, for those dealing with mental health issues or the general holiday blues. The challenge is making sure people know these resources exist.

Chris Bouneff, the executive director of the Oregon Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), helped pass legislation to secure stable funding for the suicide-and-crisis lifeline which answered 53,000 calls, texts and chats in its first year.

“We were falling behind year after year and then the pandemic hit and spared nobody," Bouneff said. "So, you have really a higher tide coming forward of people with depression, anxiety, or other symptoms.”

988 is the state-wide mobile crisis support system answered around-the-clock by Lines For Life and Northwest Human Services.

“They're doing good work at our call centers here in Oregon, because vastly more than 90% of the calls that come in, they're able to handle the situation just over the phone, so they're able to de-escalate, connect to resources," he told KOIN 6 News. 988 is "doing what it's intended to do and doing it very well.”

While data from the CDC shows the highest rates of suicide occur in spring and summer, a 2014 NAMI survey found 64% of people with mental illness said the holidays make their conditions worse. Another survey showed 66% experienced loneliness and 57% felt pressure to meet "unrealistic expectations."

“Sometimes during the holidays people retract. So they may be suffering, but they're not really ready to reach out," Bouneff said. "And it's often after the holidays that an organization like mine gets inundated, because you've made it through the holiday season, all the hoopla, and suddenly life is back to normal and you realize you've been suffering during the holidays.”

There are other factors at play, too, he said.

“We wake up when it's dark, we come home from work when it's dark, the temperature's cooling off. You just have a lot of different things in motion. Even this year in Portland, you have a strike going on and routines completely disrupted. And so you add all that together and it's a time where people may suffer greater than they would say in the spring or summer.”

That's why NAMI is committed to investing in resources that are immediate and effective, from 988 to the Oregon Youth Line, Reach Out Oregon and more.

With 988 still being new, the system is set up to route numbers to support based on their area code. But if you have an out-of-state number you simply have to ask for an Oregon representative.

If you're in crisis -- a parent, a teen, whoever -- Bouneff said there are people with lived experience who are ready to answer the line and help.

“You don't have to do this alone. There are others there available to help you. People just need to take that step to reach out, which often can be a hard step when you're suffering. But please reach out.”