Relief is on the way for the Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin.
When they launched a 24/7 crisis support hotline in April, they found themselves on the receiving end of 300 to 400 calls per day – far more than the 80 or so they expected.
As a result, the 32 CMHA employees manning the hotline ended up triaging calls to ensure they could reach the highest-priority cases first.
Those with less urgent needs were asked to leave messages, which in some cases weren’t responded to for several weeks.
Now, the Waterloo-Wellington LHIN has agreed to step in and pay for the CMHA to hire more staff.
“They are giving us an additional $950,000 worth of base funding for our service,” CMHA service director Helen Fishburn tells CTV News.
The funding will be used to bring aboard more people to answer phones and respond – especially during the hours of 10 a.m. through 4 p.m., which Fishburn says experience the highest call volumes.
Despite the growing pains, Fishburn chalks the hotline – which streamlined 12 separate crisis services – up as a success.
“We know that there are people out there with needs … and we now feel really confident that those folks are getting in touch with us,” Fishburn says.
“We’re able to help in the immediate need, if they’re in a crisis situation. We’re then able to do some assessments … around what their needs are long-term.”
The funding is expected to allow CMHA to hire 12 new employees by the end of the summer.
