Starting in November, Canadians in crisis will have a new avenue for seeking help in their darkest moments. The federal budget detailed a nationwide 988 number for mental health crisis and suicide prevention.
The opening of a national suicide prevention hotline is something mental health experts have been waiting for and advocating for. Now they’re eagerly awaiting the result and waiting to see how the new hotline will be handled and staffed.
“I think that’s a fantastic concept,” said Doug Kinar, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Branch in Prince Albert. “The implementation will be interesting to observe. The impact will depend on how well it’s maintained and how consistent it is across the board.”
For Kinar, the quality of both the people manning the hotline and their training will be of huge importance. Having worked with mental health professionals himself, he knows their training isn’t easy and isn’t something you can take for granted.
“There are programs out there like ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training),” Kinar said. “It teaches you how to do an intervention right through the whole process. I would hope that all the people doing the phone calls will have some sort of training such as ASIST.”
If the call centres can maintain good staffing levels and properly trained people, Kinar said he sees a definite value in it. A simple, three-digit number to call when in crisis with someone willing to listen on the other end of the line could save someone when they’re at their most vulnerable.
“What people need is a chance to talk,” Kinar said. “If they have a need to talk, they have someone who should listen. They need someone to listen. Talking to a chair is not any good. Having someone listen so that you can be seen, heard, and valued, is crucial. And the ability to talk about crisis is so important simply because by putting it through the speech centre of your brain, you’re having to organize your thoughts and put them into words. That can give you perspective.”
There was an aspect of the budget the CMHA as a larger organization was less pleased with. In a statement, they said they were not happy the federal government did not include the Canadian Mental Health Transfer, a promise from 2021 that would’ve seen $4.5 billion transferred to provinces and territories over five years.
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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP
