A local crisis hotline needs help supporting struggling people in our community.
Chloe Looyen, the Community and Engagement Coordinator for the Distress Centre of Leeds and Grenville, says there’s been a significant increase in demand for the service over the last few years.
The organization runs a mental health support phone line every night from 5:00 PM to midnight, as well as a “warm line” program calling people for things like wellness checks and medication reminders.
“We do have some callers that call us every day, and sometimes we’re their only social contact,” Looyen explains. “The intensity and frequency of our calls has only gone up since COVID, and people are really struggling a lot more, even since things have seemed to sort of go back to normal, people have not stopped struggling.”
Looyen says the Distress Centre needs volunteers to take calls. Volunteers need to be at least 18 years old, but Looyen says there are no other requirements to help out.
“They don’t really need to have any knowledge about distress centres or about mental health or anything like that,” she says, “because we do provide such thorough training.”
If you want to volunteer, Looyen says you can email the Distress Centre. Meanwhile, if you’re struggling with your mental health, she says you can give them a call and talk to someone at 1-800-465-4442.
