At First Choice Services in Charleston, the West Virginia’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Helpline has now answered more than 30,000 calls.

First Choice Services and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), partnered in September of 2015 to give support to those struggling with addiction and mental health issues help.

Heather McDaniel, director of Helpline Services, says they are different from other hotlines because of the immediate services they give to callers.

"Once they call us, they really don't have to do much else. We kind of take over from there. We call around for them and find them treatment options."

She continued, "Whether that is short term, long term, medication-assisted treatment, outpatient counseling, detox services, or working with one of our recovery coaches. We get them connected right then when we are on the phone. We don't give them just another phone number to call unless they specifically request that. Once we get that set up, we can also help with transportation to treatment."

The helpline is available for anyone in all 55 West Virginia counties, and

the program has more than 1,000 recovery resources across the state.

McDaniel says so many lives have been changed since the hotline became available.

"It is fantastic to get phone calls back from people, maybe six months after they called, and they say if it wasn't for this help line they wouldn't be here. Those types of things make every day worth it," she said.

The helpline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number to call is 1-844-435-7498.