Layoffs Come to California "Warm Line" Mental Health Counselors Amid Budget Cuts

The "California Peer Run Warm Line," a statewide mental health resource, is being forced to slash two-thirds of its workers amid budget cuts.

For CEO Mark Salazar, the Mental Health Association of San Francisco has always been a place people could turn to any time, day or night.

"We provides 24/7 emotional support to folks who prefer not to call 911," Salazar said.

But now, the nonprofit faces the same kind of uncertainty it has helped thousands of others through, day after day, year after year.

"We shouldn't be cutting back any type of services," Salazar said. "We should actually invest in more."

Starting this week, millions in lost state funding forced Salazar to begin laying off nearly 200 employees.

The bulk of the cuts are coming from the team that answered calls on the Warm Line -- a hotline anyone in California could call to talk through a mental health issue.

"To me, it's really difficult to say, 'hey, we can't answer all your calls now,'" Salazar told CBS News Bay Area. "We're going to do our best to get back to you, but we can't guarantee it."

Peter Murphy knows the Warm Line's impact firsthand, both as a caller and later as a counselor.

"I feel like I am part of a community. This Warm Line community. This peer recovery community," Murphy told CBS News Bay Area.

Murphy struggled with addiction before joining the staff several years ago. He says their approach works.

"As peers, we support each other and and we keep folks out of crisis," he said.

The cuts come as demand for the Warm Line has never been higher.

"In the last five months, it jumped all the way to 40,000 per month," Salazar said. "Based on our funding and our available resources, we were only able to get to about 25,000 to 30,000 calls of that a month."

With staffing reduced, Salazar says the hotline may only be able to handle 5,000 to 10,000 calls each month.

"Where do those 20,000 to 30,000 calls go? We don't have an answer," he added.

Salazar said the nonprofit is still working with the state to figure out new hours and staffing for a "reconfigured" Warm Line.

For now, he says his focus remains on his people as they say goodbye to so many who helped keep the Warm Line running 24/7.