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Call volumes to the province’s mental health crisis line over the holiday season have gone up significantly over the past several years, according to data provided by Nova Scotia Health.
However, people involved with the service don’t believe the increase in calls between October and February necessarily reflects that more people are experiencing mental health struggles.
Instead, the increase might be related to “a very conscious effort” to promote public and professional awareness of services, says Sarah MacDonald, the health service manager with the provincial mental health and addictions crisis team.
The crisis line handled 16,101 calls this past fall and winter, compared with 9,749 during the same period in 2020-21, numbers from the health authority show—a 65 per cent increase over five years.
Meanwhile, the service’s mobile crisis team was deployed 515 times in the most recent period compared with 394 in-person interventions in 2020-21.
“There can be an increase for reach-outs during those kinds of holiday times and seasons certainly,” said Matt White, director of mental health and addictions in the province’s central zone, pointing out holidays can be a time of financial stress, loneliness and grief for some.
White agrees additional promotion of the crisis line may be partly responsible for the increased call volume, but he said the team is well positioned to respond to the demand.
Shifts are staggered “over a 24-hour period” to cover the highest call volume times and the team makes constant evaluations to adjust when needed, he said.
The crisis line’s data shows the majority of calls come in between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. White said the time between when someone calls the line and when they get to speak to staff is generally just over a minute.
The mobile crisis team, first established in the early 2000s to bring together mental health services and modern-day policing, operates from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. to provide in-person support within the Halifax region.
The team consists of crisis interveners — either a nurse, social worker or occupational therapist — and four specially trained Halifax Regional Police officers, MacDonald said.
Calls to the crisis line are triaged and more often than not they can be handled through the phone interventions, she said.
Some of those interventions could include urgent referrals to mental health and addictions programs “that takes a proactive approach so that it limits the risk of an escalation in crisis to a psychiatric emergency,” said MacDonald.
They could also include “supporting the individual and attending an emergency department for further medical or psychiatric evaluation,” she said.
If the caller is within Halifax Regional Municipality, they can consent to a visit from the mobile crisis team if support that “cannot be provided over the phone” is needed, she said.
Anyone in Nova Scotia can self-refer to mental health and addictions services by calling 1-855-922-1122, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or by booking online at prebooking.nshealth.ca.
The provincial mental health crisis line is available 24/7 for anyone who is experiencing, or anyone who is concerned about someone who is experiencing a mental health or addictions crisis. The toll-free number is 1-888-429-8167.
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