Mental health helpline seeing an increase in callers

The Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo Region and Wellington Country has seen an increase in callers to their here 24/7 helpline. 

Here 24/7 is a helpline that aims to provide services to those struggling with mental health, addictions, or going through crisis.

Brooke Young is the Director of Services at CMHA WW, she says the number of callers has increased.

“Since we started, we have been tracking about 4,500 calls a month. In May of 2018, we noticed that there was a bit of a spike, we started receiving 5500 calls a month, so an extra 1000 calls a month. That seems to have been consistent until May.”

She said the spike in callers could be due to a number of factors. 

“We don't exactly know why that is happening, but we have a couple of hypotheses. I think the whole opioid crisis has more people reaching out indicating that they would like to access help and support, we have certainly seen that spike. People are just talking about mental health more in general, so we are seeing more people reaching out sooner, or people reaching out that have never reaching out before,” said Young. 

Other factors examined were family pressures, financial stress, mental health awareness and acceptance. 

Young is encouraging people to reach out if they need help. “What we do want to communicate is that we're here. We will do our best to try and connect you as fast as we possibly can. So please reach out and call us.”

The line is open 24 hours a day, but Young says a lot of people tend to call during the daytime. “You can call at three in the morning and get the exact same service.”

For more information, you can call 1-844-HERE-247 (437-3247) TTY: 1-877-688-5501.