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Clinician at Haywood remembrance urges more mental-health support for first responders
Summary
A mental-health clinician told the Haywood County remembrance that first responders continue to struggle with trauma and urged greater investment in counseling and peer support; resources and crisis lines were shared.
At Haywood County’s remembrance ceremony for the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, Jakey Levy, a mental-health clinician with Responder Support Services, described persistent mental-health impacts on first responders and urged the community and agencies to treat mental-health care as essential.
Levy, who works with Haywood County EMS and the sheriff’s office, said responders worked around the clock during and after the storm, sometimes sleeping at stations or in cars and postponing personal needs while serving the community. "It is okay not to be okay. It is okay to ask for help," Levy said, urging counseling, peer support and safe spaces for healing.
Levy listed local and national resources for anyone struggling: the 988 Lifeline, ACS 24-hour crisis line, and RHA Mobile Crisis West. The clinician emphasized that unaddressed responder trauma can weaken the community’s long-term resilience and called for continued investments in mental-health services for responders and survivors.
The ceremony’s remarks and poems highlighted the human toll of the storm and the community’s volunteer response; Levy’s message framed recovery as both rebuilding infrastructure and addressing psychological harm.
