This time of year can be stressful for many, but the operators of a locally-run crisis line say they\u2019re ready to answer your call.<\/p>\n
Staff and volunteers at the Fraser Health Crisis Line offer emotional support, crisis intervention, and community resource information.<\/p>\n
Program Manager Julianna Baker says feeling stressed or burnt out is normal around the holidays.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty much everybody is feeling that way. And if you need somebody to talk to, you\u2019re not bothering us. We are there to take those calls,\u201d Baker explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to talk to you and help you through it, even if it\u2019s the middle of the night, and you just want to vent about what you\u2019re going through, there\u2019s somebody there to listen, and we\u2019re there to support you through that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says the Fraser Health call-takers receive special training to handle grief, including how it manifests through specific types of losses like overdose deaths or suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t diagnose anything, we\u2019re just trained volunteers and responders listening to these things. It\u2019s more so just a guide of where to help callers go and get that support and then validating them for feeling that way as it comes up.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, Baker says financial hardship has been the subject of a growing number of calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore [the COVID-19 pandemic], it was kind of like, \u2018Yes, I\u2019m feeling like I\u2019m having some mental health concerns or I\u2019m having thoughts of suicide, I\u2019m concerned about somebody else.\u2019 But then, and also \u2018I have the worry about the economy, or I\u2019m struggling financially, or I can\u2019t take time off work because I can\u2019t pay my rent.\u2019 So, it\u2019s definitely increasing in how it comes up in calls all year round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker says the line is proud to be the first contact for many people in crisis, helping them connect to more help.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs well as everybody knows, it is really challenging to navigate the system when you\u2019re going through anything at all. What we want is to be able to link people and do those referrals with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Operated by Options Community Services, the Fraser Health Crisis Line is free, confidential, and open 24\/7, 365 days a year. You can call 604-951-8855 or 1-877-820-7444.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This time of year can be stressful for many, but the operators of a locally-run crisis line say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411,14978],"class_list":{"0":"post-200621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth","13":"tag-noads"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}