​​BUFFALO, N.Y. — ​Crisis and Re-Stabilization Emergency Services, or CARES, says the back-to-school season is often their busiest time.

"When the school year starts, then you gotta get back into all the structure and all that kind of things that are challenges in terms of kids getting up and going to school and then doing work and then the stress of school," Cindy Voelker, Spectrum health associate CEO, said.

Voelker said there's been a big increase in the percentage of children and families seeking help amid the pandemic and shootings occurring across the country.

"There is definitely an increase in people feeling anxiety and fear and depression and those kinds of things that come with all that, and I think in the schools, you know, the kids they practice shooter drills, they're exposed to that sort of thing. All of us in children's services have seen an increase," Voelker said.

The CARES 24/7 crisis response offers phone services and in-person visits for families and children under the age of 17 who live in Erie County and other surrounding counties.

"There might be people who might have challenges with their kids behaviors that become out of control. They might have a counselor or they might not, but they need some help in how to deal with that and how to manage that at home. They have a lot of times, anxiety depression suicide ideation," Voelker said.

Counselors triage the situation and make a plan and respond. Voelker said the service needs more trained counselors to meet the growing need of services.

"What's happened is we've seen many openings across our agency, as well as across the system and our area, where there's probably several hundred open positions for clinical staff that do this kind of work," Voelker said.

Voelker said not having enough employees could lead to a loss of the staff's ability to go out to visits or decrease the time in response to callers.

"You know, a lot of times we would prefer to get involved and deal with things before the police have to get involved, but if it's a critical situation and we can't get there, then the police would be the next line of course to help families," Voelker said.

To learn more about CARES, head to https://www.shswny.org/services/cares. The 24/7 help line number is 716-882-HELP (4357).