Canada's 988 Crisis Hotline, a 'Pathway to Survival,' One Year Later
In his hit song about his mental health struggles, the American rapper Logic did something unusual. Instead of giving the song a name, he assigned it a number, that of the 11-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Logic, whose real name is Bobby Hall, released the song in 2017. He performed it at the MTV Video Music Awards, and then at the Grammy Awards. In the roughly monthlong periods that followed each of those three moments, calls to the hotline increased and suicides decreased, according to a study published in The British Medical Journal in 2021. Mass-influencing people in crisis to seek support is an example of what researchers call the Papageno effect, which is named after a character in Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" who discovers ways to address his pain and carry on living. Sometimes it's a matter of simplifying where to find help in a moment of extreme distress. In Canada, the number to call is 988. The hotline was introduced last November, about a year after the United States adopted the same number. Employees at Canada's hotline responded to 300,000 calls and texts, almost 1,000 per day, in its inaugural year. The line is available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and the average wait time to reach a mental health responder is less than a minute. "It's hard to believe that, a year ago, we didn't have this service in Canada," said Allison Crawford, a psychiatrist and researcher at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and the chief medical officer of 988. Increasing access to mental health services in remote and rural areas, where suicide rates tend to be higher, is a priority, and the 988 hotline is a useful bridge to those communities, Dr. Crawford said. "We have a strong emphasis on community-based suicide prevention, so that makes it even more important to have the involvement of every province and territory," she said. The federal government provided the center, widely known in Canada as CAMH, with 156 million Canadian dollars over three years to establish and operate the confidential helpline. Provincial governments are responsible for health care delivery in Canada, but experts have been pushing for a more uniform approach at the federal level to tackle the issue of deaths by suicide. In January, a group of psychiatrists and mental health providers signed an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging his government to create a national strategy to reduce suicides.
Before the hotline was set up, callers who knew to contact local crisis centers would reach out to them directly. But the additional step of having to find the contact information for a local center was another obstacle for people in distress. "One of the most important things that we can do for people who are at risk is to show them pathways of survival, to show them how they can cope," said Mark Sinyor, a psychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center and a professor at the University of Toronto who coauthored the study on Logic. "They're usually looking for those and sometimes struggling to find them." The 988 hotline fills the gap that exists in a patchwork of support numbers and services. After dialing 988, callers have an option to receive assistance in English or French, and another option to find culturally sensitive support for Indigenous people. About 40 agencies have signed on to answer the 988 line. One of those is the Gerstein Crisis Center in downtown Toronto. It continues to operate its own local crisis line and has added staff to cover 988 calls. Carla Pearson, the Gerstein center's director of crisis services, gave a glowing review of the program's first year. "It's been amazing," she said. "988 is primarily a suicide prevention line, but we don't turn anyone away." "Anyone can call, and we'll listen and see what supports are needed," she added. Canada records about 4,500 suicides per year which makes them the second-leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 34. Nunavut, a northern territory of about 45,000 people, has the highest rate of suicide and self-harm in the country, according to a report published by CAMH last month. Both Canada and the United States have a three-digit suicide and crisis hotline: 988. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 and visit 988.ca (Canada) or 988lifeline.org (United States) for a list of additional resources. The services offer crisis support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Trans Canada
Vjosa Isai is a reporter and researcher for The New York Times in Toronto. How are we doing? Like this email?
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Saturday, December 7, 2024
Canada Letter: 988, one year later
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