(Ottawa) The national suicide prevention line, 988, promises to be busy from its scheduled launch date in November, and volume will soar over the next five years. These projections based on the American experience, where 988 was dialed 5 million times in a year, include Quebec, where the line is deemed redundant.
What there is to know
The national suicide prevention line, 988, is due to come into effect in Canada on November 30, 2023.
In light of the success of this line in the United States in particular, it is expected to be busy as soon as it is launched.
In Quebec, stakeholders fear a “duplication” with the 1 866 APPELLE line.
From 100,000 calls in 2023-2024 to 326,000 in 2027 in a low demand scenario, and from 161,000 calls in 2023 to 581,000 in 2027 in a high demand scenario: the report produced by the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), obtained by The Press thanks to the Access to Information Actsuggests a success that will have to be managed.
“Given these projections, representatives of the hotline industry are concerned about the feasibility of a November 30th launch in the absence of adequate capacity and training,” reads the summary of the document prepared for the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett.
At this time, all distress centers […] struggling to keep up with demand – for example, in August 2022, Talk Suicide Canada’s response rate […] was 57%. Therefore, distress lines recommend a modest launch [soft launch]similar to the approach in the United States.
Excerpt from document prepared for Minister Carolyn Bennett
The number being national, the federal government consults “the provinces and territories in order to understand their needs, while many are trying to determine how to prepare for 988”, it adds.
Skeptical Quebec
Ottawa will find the Quebec government on its way. To the Public Health Agency of Canada, which boasts of the “easily recognizable” number, the Quebec government replies that the 1 866 APPELLE line already enjoys considerable notoriety, like the suicide.ca site.
A meeting between Minister Carolyn Bennett and her Quebec counterpart, the Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, must take place in the coming weeks – and it is already expected that the file of the line 988 will be on the agenda, says Lambert Drainville, spokesperson for Mr. Carmant.
The 1 866 APPELLE line is well known to Quebecers, it works well, and we do not want any duplication. We want to know how [la ministre Bennett] sees that, and if she is aware of what is already being done here and which is working.
Lambert Drainville, spokesperson for the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant
Director General of the Regroupement des centers de prevention du suicide du Québec, Claudia Charron shares this analysis: “We do not see the relevance of having the 988 line, considering that we already meet the needs of the population and that we have a very good expertise in suicide prevention in Quebec. »
The fact that calls from Quebec will be “automatically redirected to 1 866 APPELLE for assistance in French,” as Harpreet Kochhar, president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, pointed out in a letter to the CRTC, does not necessarily reassure her.
“A suicide prevention call that we escape can have very significant repercussions,” worries Ms.me Wheelwright.
If, for example, the call was badly redirected, which is “a possibility in the beginning”, and that it failed “in a province to a person who is bilingual, who does not know the particularities of the province”, the help may not be optimal, she illustrates.
Last August, the president and CEO of the Quebec Association for the Prevention of Suicide, Jérôme Gaudreault, felt on the contrary that 988 could “facilitate access to resources for people who are vulnerable or in a suicidal crisis”. Provided, he said, however, that there were enough personnel.
A success in the United States
South of the border, the first candle on line 988 blew out on July 16. The three-digit number came to replace 1-800-273-TALK. “This is the most transformative behavioral health initiative I’ve seen in my career,” Monica Johnson, director of the 988 Program Coordinating Office, told CNN recently.
The idea behind this program, which the Biden administration funded to the tune of almost $1 billion, was obviously to simplify the number to remember. The goal is the same in Canada, where the budget for the project primarily administered by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health is $158 million over three years, according to Budget 2023.
Whether by phone or text message – for text messages, the volume would be around 22,000 in 2023 and 75,000 in 2027 – the majority of requests are expected to “be defused by responders”, with “less than 2% requiring the emergency intervention of first responders”, reads the document obtained by The Press.
The federal Department of Health remains committed to an entry into service on November 30, 2023, despite concerns expressed by officials about anticipated traffic. Minister Bennett is to make an announcement about the 988 line this Monday in Toronto.
With William Leclerc, The Press