For those of you who missed the VIA presentation in November, you missed a valuable presentation. Marguerite Redwine, CEO and her staff provided us with two valuable resources EAPs may find helpful.

VIA LINK 24 Hour Call Center
Serving the New Orleans Area of Southeast Louisiana
Call 504-269-2673(COPE) or 1-800-749-2673(COPE).  You may also dial 2-1-1 (Not available by cell phone) for community help.

VIA LINK provides crisis and suicide counseling and connects people to community resources that help them to resolve life’s biggest challenges. VIA helps people to get food, shelter, medical care, financial assistance, substance abuse treatment, childcare, eldercare, and many other kinds of help. Their  counselors are ready 24 hours a day to assist callers with needed help. VIA LINK is certified by the American Association of Sociology (AAS).

VIA LINK maintains Community Resource Directory for the New Orleans area of southeast Louisiana. This directory is available to the public at www.vialink.org. The popular printed directory should be available in late 2005. VIA will notify EAPA members when it’s available. The Via Link is an excellent way to locate needed resources for your clients. VIA has expanded its Via Link to include other areas outside of NOLA which is great for state wide and national EAP providers.

If you work for a nonprofit organization make sure that your organization is in the VIA Community Resource Directory database. Request that your organization be included in the directory by calling 896-2007 or go to our website and make a request online. VIA LINK is a member of the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS).