The labor shortage is wreaking havoc on the crisis centers that intervene with people most at risk in terms of mental health. Due to staff shortages, some organizations have started to close beds and suspend services, which risks pushing even more people in crisis to the emergency room.
“I’ve been doing this for 21 years, and this is the first time I’ve experienced such a perilous situation,” explains the director of the Laval crisis center L’île, Sylvie Picard.
The islet is the place to which suicidal people in the Laval region are directed. Its doors are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Temporary beds are available for the heaviest cases. The organization also works with people at risk of committing homicide.
However, since last year, L’île has had to deal with the departure of 24 workers, out of a team of around fifty people. And Mme Picard has just learned that she no longer has a worker to assess new cases. If the situation does not improve, she will also have to close three of her six beds. “We thought we had a respite after the pandemic, but no, it’s worse than worse. »
Laval residents in crisis will therefore have to wait longer before accessing certain assistance services and risk ending up in the emergency room, she laments. “There are waiting times that we never had in the past. »
Ironically, the crisis centers were created 30 years ago in order to unclog emergencies, explains Hugues Laforce, spokesperson for the Regroupement des services d’intervention de crise du Québec (RESICQ). “The particularity of crisis centers is that it is an essential service,” he says.
They are also funded by the integrated health and social services centers (CISSS). “We take requests for help from everyone: from the population directly, from the police, from hospitals (emergencies, outpatient services and psychiatry)… We also take requests from CISSSs and CIUSSSs [centres intégrés universitaires de santé et de services sociaux]. […] We are also increasingly intervening with university student support services. »
For now, most crisis centers have stuck to service failures. But the crisis center La bouffée d’air, in Rivière-du-Loup, was recently forced to take another step: it interrupted its accommodation services.
Its doors have just partially reopened, after a month-long hiatus. “We are working very hard to remedy the situation because we are under pressure from our CISSS. As a crisis center, we are really essential for the network,” told the To have to its director, Hélène Chabot.
We thought we had a respite after the pandemic, but no, it’s worse than worse
The paradox in this story is that the crisis centers are losing a good part of their employees to the benefit of… the CISSSs and CIUSSSs. “We are competitors of the public network on the job market, concedes the vice-president of RESICQ, Mr. Laforce. But we are not fighting on equal terms. »
Not only are wages more advantageous in the health network, but night and weekend shifts are becoming rarer. The problem “is not new”, he says, but it has grown since 2020. Especially since the public network has relaxed its hiring criteria, in particular by allowing the employment of bachelors in psychology and other related disciplines even if they do not belong to any professional order.
“These people, before, they came to us because they could not find opportunities in the public network,” notes Mr. Laforce.
Not only “he hires our staff”, adds Mme Picard, but he will also draw from the same labor pool. However, unlike the public network, organizations like hers cannot offer telecommuting, which is requested by many potential recruits, she mentions. “Because crisis intervention is very short-term to avoid acting out. The therapeutic link must be almost immediate, and on the phone or on Zoom, it does not work. »
Bounties and Reinforcements
To recruit staff and reopen its doors, La puffy of air offered a $5 bonus to employees who work at night, which raised their hourly wages from $21 to $26. The CISSS, for its part, lent her two workers to fill all the shifts.
Butme Chabot points out that his organization remains “very fragile”. “We have a day job that hasn’t been filled yet and we don’t have a recall list. There are plenty of people who haven’t finished taking their vacations, and I can’t give them any. We can’t be sick. »
The problem is widespread in the network. The Quebec Crisis Center had to close nine beds and soon plans to limit intervention and follow-up services in the community. In Lanaudière, the region’s crisis services are preparing to replace two service points (in Rawdon and Repentigny) with one.
In Montreal, the Tracom crisis center, in the west of the city, is doing a little better. But he has to deal with a high proportion of inexperienced employees who need training. A little further east, the crisis center Le transit had to close its accommodation service for three days on two occasions. In the Laurentians, the Soleil levant crisis center has already had to interrupt its post-housing follow-up service and predicts that there will be further breaks in service during the holidays.
And so on.
Quebec is already aware of the situation, says Mr. Laforce. At the beginning of the month, the RESICQ submitted to the Ministry of Health a summary of the breakdowns and ruptures of services that occurred in 7 of its 21 centres.
The organization, which counts the data on the whole network, hopes that the help will not be too late. “It was written in the sky that it was going to happen. The government has been aware of this for some time now. He has a good listening, but there, it will be necessary to pass to another stage. »
If you are thinking of suicide or if you are worried about a loved one, workers are available at all times at 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553), by text message (535353) or by chat (www.suicide.ca).