Help is just a text away

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This article was published 12/06/2023 (1083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On weekend mornings, when most of us are still tucked in bed, Karen Brooks Earley’s 3:40 a.m. alarm rouses her from sleep. She heads straight to her kitchen table where her laptop waits.

At exactly 4 a.m., a stream of notifications start flooding in. Her two dogs, Velocity and Edison accompany her as she swiftly scans through the words on her screen.

Her speakers ping with an alert; someone has sent a text message to 686868 with the word “connect” and Earley, 60, is ready to support them.

Earley is one of 7,500 volunteer crisis responders for Kids Help Phone (KHP), the country’s only round-the-clock mental-health service offering free, accessible support to young people. As a crisis responder, she spends 16 hours a month communicating with young people who text in to the service.

The Winnipegger started volunteering in August 2020 and has helped 905 texters across 660 hours, talking to them about their anxiety, depression, and relationship issues.

“I say ‘Hi,’ I let them know I am there for them and ask them to share what is going on in their life with me. They tell me what it is they are struggling with at that moment; sometimes it’s body image or an anxiety attack, and the conversation carries on from there,” she says.

In Manitoba, youths between the ages of 14 to 17 are ones who most often access the texting service, spending an average of 45 minutes communicating with a volunteer. The top five issues texters in Manitoba discuss include anxiety and stress, relationships, depression, suicide and isolation. Eighteen per cent of texters also seek support for self-harm issues.

“You go through it with them to work them into a more calm and easy state of mind. The service is anonymous unless there is danger. Then a supervisor gets involved. We are trained in how to deal if someone is at risk of harming themselves,” Earley says.

KHP supports between 17,000 to 20,000 text conversations per month. Young people tend to reach out via text later in the day, often between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. Winnipeg time. The service assures confidentiality.

“Our non-verbal services, like text, are popular because young people feel they’re a bit safer and they have a sense of control. They don’t need to use their voice or share their experiences aloud,” Cara Chen, a KHP senior manager of community crisis response, explains.

There have been more than 900,000 texting conversations since the beginning of the program, which was piloted in Manitoba when the deadly bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos’ junior hockey team happened in April 2018, mobilizing within 24 hours to offer texting support to young people across the Prairies. The service went nationwide by the end of 2018.

Text responders work remotely, replying to texts from young people looking for support, helping them identify how they are feeling, discussing different coping strategies and, if required, collaboratively, setting up a safety plan. Every volunteer is vetted and goes through training before they can start work.

“In-depth training is provided for the role including, how to support young Indigenous people in culturally appropriate ways, cultural humility and supporting newcomer youth, and undergo training for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility,” Chen says.

Earley says the service has become more vital than ever.

“The pandemic really changed things for a lot of young people. They are social animals and they need their friends. They were cut off so much during COVID. This is a lifeline for them,” she says.

Anonymity is guaranteed unless the texter is in danger.

“Over 22 per cent of our texting conversations are with young people speaking about suicide. All conversations around suicide are triaged to the top so we can support these young people first,” Chen says. “Our crisis responders are trained to work with youth in suicidal ideation and conduct a thorough risk assessment. Kids Help Phone’s clinical staff are available if crisis responders need to make an emergency referral in order to keep someone safe.”

There have been times during Earley’s sessions when emergency responders have been sent to the aid of the texter.

“I empathize with them, let them know they are brave and strong, that they have it within them to get through this. There have been times when a supervisor steps in and emergency services need to be sent to help them. I don’t know what the outcome is… it can be tough. I feel very connected to who I am texting with but you have to separate yourself,” she says.

“It really hits your heart hard sometimes. But there is a lot of support for the crisis responders as well; you have a supervisor you can text for support, you can decompress with your fellow crisis responders.”

Breanna Laggo, 23, is in her final year of study at the University of Winnipeg. She’s is a member of KHP’s National Youth Council, which works to make sure young people are represented into all areas of the organization.

“We contribute to Instagram posts, write letters of gratitude to donors, provide feedback on Kids Help Phone innovation work, and our subcommittees are given the freedom to select projects that are meaningful to them. It is amazing to see how much youth voice matters to Kids Help Phone, and that our feedback is both taken seriously, as well as implemented,” she says.

For Laggo, the services KHP provides are of utmost importance.

“Kids Help Phone is there giving everyone a chance to feel heard, seen, and give their feelings a place to go. I want all youth to know that there is no shame in seeking support,” she says.

It’s a sentiment Earley echoes.

“You are not on your own. Sometimes how you feel is not going to go away on its own; you will need to reach out for extra help and that is a show of strength on your part,” she says.

”Someone will respond to you and help carry that heavy weight for you. You don’t need permissions from anyone to reach out to us; it is your right to be able to do this. You have a right to ask for help.”