Canada’s 988 suicide crisis helpline sees over 300K calls, texts in 1st year
Global News
The average wait time in October was 44 seconds for phone calls and one minute and 47 seconds for text — a response time officials are working to continually improve.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says responders have fielded more than 300,000 calls and texts since the launch of the national 988 suicide helpline a year ago.
Dr. Allison Crawford, the chief medical officer for the helpline, says people having suicidal thoughts or other mental health distress can get help 24 hours a day, seven days a week no matter where they live in Canada.
She expects the volume of calls and texts will go up as more people become aware of the service.
Crawford says it’s critical that responders answer the calls or texts quickly so someone needing help doesn’t give up.
The average wait time in October was 44 seconds for phone calls and one minute and 47 seconds for text — a response time Crawford says they are continually working to improve.
Calls and texts are routed to the closest available responder so they can help people find more resources in their local community if they need further assistance.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health leads the helpline, working with more than 2,000 responders from 39 community agencies across the country.
Slinder Bhatti, executive director of Chimo Community Services in Richmond, B.C., oversees between seven and 12 responders on the helpline, depending on expected call and text patterns.
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