Over 50 trained volunteers provide emotional support, information, crisis and suicide intervention and referrals to appropriate community services to callers from Oyster River to Fanny Bay, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    In the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the crisis line received 1831 calls from people in need. In 2006-2007, our calls more than doubled, numbering at 4371.

    As of April 2004, the Crisis Line has become the public's access point for consultation with a mobile Crisis Intervention Nurse through Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA).

    The delivery of this program depends on access to a comprehensive and up-to-date resource directory, and most importantly, a highly dedicated and skilled volunteer base. Clinical training, supervision and support of volunteers by professional staff trained in crisis intervention and social work is essential to the delivery of this program.

    Intensive crisis intervention training, including communication skills, suicide intervention and issue-based sensitivity training, is offered to community members who wish to become volunteer crisis line workers.

    Currently the training consists of 42 hours of in class work, consisting of lectures, role-playing, exercises and a variety of guest speakers from local community agencies, as well as 12 hours of observation on the crisis line with experienced volunteers. In 2006-2007, 32 new volunteers were given crisis intervention training. In addition, monthly in-services are held to continue to upgrade the skill and knowledge base of crisis line volunteers.

    Crisis Line volunteers bring their skills and knowledge to every aspect of their lives, enriching the community's capacity for dealing with emotional distress and crisis long after they have ceased volunteering for the Crisis Centre.

    The A.S.I.S.T. program (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is an internationally recognized course designed to train laypeople in "suicide first aid" skills. In-house A.S.I.S.T. trainings are offered by the Crisis Centre to volunteers twice per year. This year, 29 volunteers were given A.S.I.S.T. The Crisis Centre has expanded this training program to include volunteers and staff from other community services and agencies.

    Specially trained volunteers deliver a one-hour suicide awareness and prevention presentation to the Career and Personal Planning (CAPP) classes at local middle and high schools. A total of 56 presentations were delivered in 2006-2007, directly benefiting approximately 1090 students. Students are asked to fill out an evaluation form for each presentation, and they consistently give the presentation high ratings, stating that their awareness of suicide and how to intervene has been raised.

This program is funded by the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

    The most comprehensive and user-friendly inventory of community services in the Comox Valley is compiled and maintained by the Crisis Centre. Our booklet, the Comox Valley Community Services Directory, is updated yearly and sold to community members and agencies for a small fee. In 2003-2004, approximately 100 service directories were sold. Any member of the community can access the information in the service directory at no cost simply by calling the crisis line and obtaining detailed information about local services, resources and programs available in the Comox Valley.



Search the Community Service Directory Here

    The Crisis Centre plays a central role in helping community agencies to develop effective communication and partnerships. Through our active participation in interagency committees such as AHERO (Ad Hoc Emergency Resources Organization), the Crisis Centre helps to identify gaps in service, develop community solutions to ongoing needs, and coordinate the delivery of services. This committee is actively working to raise awareness of poverty and housing issues in the community.

    The Crisis Centre is also part of a newly formed "Community Crisis Response Committee," which represents a concerted effort to increase communication among providers of service to people in our community with mental health issues, addictions and other crisis-producing problems. The Crisis Centre's statistics can provide a barometer for the issues most affecting our community at any given moment, and they have been used in the Social Planning Council's Quality of Life Report 2002, and the Quality of Life Update 2004.