Quinte Health has announced that it will be a partner in the national 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline.
Responders with Quinte Health will take 9-8-8 calls and provide support to people who are thinking about suicide or worried about someone they know.
The team is part of a growing network of more than 40 local, provincial and territorial, and national crisis lines across the country providing support to people who call or text 9-8-8.
“9-8-8 allows Canadians to text or call and reach someone within seconds or minutes which can be a matter of life or death,” Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams tells Quinte News. “I’m so very proud that Quinte Health is selected to lead this project for Eastern Ontario.”
The 9-8-8 team will be integrated with Quinte Health’s Crisis Intervention Centre (CIC) to help facilitate mentorship and referrals.
The CIC team itself will accept referrals for counselling services only to those within the Quinte Health service region.
Dr. Colin MacPherson, Chief of Staff and the lead psychiatrist at Quinte Health, commented on the new service in an audio statement.
“We’ve had a crisis service at Quinte Health that has been servicing our community now for many years and we do get calls, we get people who come into our emergency department who regularly seek help for issues related to suicidal thinking and feeling overwhelmed,” Dr. MacPherson says.
“We know that these critical times in their lives, they benefit from support from care from another human voice and if we can make it easier for people to get help in these moments, I think it will make a difference.”
More information about the service can be found on the Government of Canada’s website.
