Canadians struggling with mental health amid COVID-19 access ‘Friendly Calls’ program
Global News
The Friendly Calls program pairs participants struggling with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic with trained Red Cross volunteers who typically call once a week to chat.
Wendy Goodall moved from Ontario to the sprawling prairies of southern Saskatchewan two years ago. Then the COVID-19 pandemic shrank her world.
“I knew nobody here, except my daughter and her family,” says Goodall, a widow in her early 70s who lives in the village of Lipton, Sask. “If I was to get COVID, my doctor said I wouldn’t survive it. It’s very depressing not to be able to get out.”
As the pandemic dragged on, Goodall’s deepening sense of loneliness prompted a counsellor to refer her to a free program established by the Canadian Red Cross in early 2020, as the spread of the virus led to lockdowns across the country.
The Friendly Calls program pairs participants like Goodall with trained Red Cross volunteers who typically call once a week to chat. As simple as it seems, the program — offered in French and English — has proven to be so popular that it has expanded to every province and the Northwest Territories.
“To have that phone call and be able to talk to somebody, it’s super,” says Goodall, who has been talking regularly to the same volunteer in Saskatchewan since September. “If I didn’t have the phone call, I wouldn’t talk to anybody during the week.”
In the past six months, the program has logged more than 30,000 calls involving 500 volunteers and 3,000 clients, says Chris Baert-Wilson, a Red Cross director based in Halifax and leader of the Friendly Calls program.
“We started in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, acknowledging that people were isolating — and even if they weren’t isolating, they weren’t able to travel,” she said in an interview. “And a lot of folks haven’t seen family members in a very long time. People are feeling out of sorts, isolated and alone.”
Most of the participants, who must be at least 18 years old, are seniors. Some clients want brief check-ins, others seek a more meaningful connection. In every case, volunteers are matched with clients based on shared interests, a key feature that Goodall has come to appreciate.
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