ALBANY COUNTY — The coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions imposed to prevent its spread are “challenging the folks who are living and struggling with substance abuse and addiction,” said Stephen Giordano, Ph.D., director of the Albany County Department of Mental Health.

“The concerns that lead to using more drugs and alcohol or potentially relapsing if you’re in recovery or even overdosing are present all together right now and posing enormous challenges to folks that are struggling with addiction,” Giordano said at Sunday’s county press briefing.

He named some of those pressures: “The anxiety, the stress, the worry, the loneliness that might come from social isolation … losing jobs, losing purpose, and now losing the lives of friends and loved ones.”

In Albany County right now, Giordano said, 2,500 people are receiving drug and alcohol treatment. He called the county “rich in support” for both mental illness and addiction.

“Every level of care for addiction is present in Albany County,” Giordano said, and, despite the pandemic, he said, “All of those services are open and operational.”

He listed phone numbers for people to call if they need help:

— The county’s mental health department can be reached at 518-447-4537;

— The Capital Region Open Access Engagement Program is at 1-866-930-4999; and

— The State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services is at 1-877-8-HOPENY.

“We’ll talk to families. We’ll talk to people who are struggling,” said Giordano. “We’ll help people connect to treatment.”

He stressed, “We’re open for business. We’re handling the responsibilities for people who depend on us to be there.”

Asked about people living on the street, Giordano said, “We work very closely with law-enforcement agencies.” Police departments, he said, attend twice-annual training sessions on how to handle mental-health situations. 

“It really has changed the temperature on the street for those encounters,” Giordano said. He noted that homeless people are suffering and said, “Most of them don’t need to go to jail.”

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the county has been trying to get homeless people to live in hotel rooms and Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple has said that soon an unoccupied wing of the county jail will be used to house homeless people and offer them services.

Giordano noted that his department serves almost 1,000 Albany County residents with chronic and severe mental illness. “That work continues to go on,” he said; emergencies are still dealt with, injections are still given, and counseling sessions are still held although they are conducted remotely.

The clinic in downtown Albany continues to operate as does the clinic at Albany County’s jail, which serves almost 150 inmate patients, Giordano said.

“The mobile crisis team continues to respond in the community,” he said.

Also a mental-health helpline was set up at the outset of the outbreak in Albany County, which has expanded it hours and is open for calls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. That number is 518-269-6634. Anyone experiencing a psychiatric emergency should still call the Albany County Mobile Crisis Team at 518-549–6500.

The helpline is staffed by department workers as well as by professionals who have volunteered, one from as far away as California.

“We’ve received a couple hundred calls,” said Giordano. “They run the gamut,” he said, and include questions about managing with children at home.

“But mostly it’s about how do we stay focused in this time of uncertainty … It’s not a sign of mental illness to be afraid, worried, and stressed” at a time like this, he said.

“There’s a lot of concern about our loved ones and about our world as we know it … The trick is to take this opportunity to learn how to take care of your mental health,” said Giordano.