Suicide is preventable.
The Crisis Centre is a community of volunteers and staff who are on the other end of the phone or online chat 24 hours a day, 365 days a year when an individual is in distress, considering suicide, or when there are no other mental health services open or available.
We’ve prevented suicides and saved lives by supporting 41,217 individuals over our phone and online chat services when they needed it the most in the past year.
On September 10, 2019, the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC is acknowledging World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) and marking our 50th year providing help and hope.
It takes people helping people to get through life’s toughest challenges. The WSPD theme of ‘working together to prevent suicide’ is at the core of our approach.
We have taken our core philosophy into the community by training over 11,358 individuals how to create a calm and compassionate space to talk about suicide when someone is showing they need help.
We’ve trained doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers, first responders, social workers, immigrant service workers, and others in helping professions with the practical skills needed to talk openly about suicidal thoughts and find ways to connect folks with effective resources to help.
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Quotes
“I see the work of the Crisis Centre as a way to help people avoid making terrible decisions in their worst moments. When you call or text the Crisis Centre, it’s like taking a deep breath, collecting your racing thoughts, and talking to someone who cares and just wants to hear what you have to say. When we give people space to talk first, instead of act in a moment of crisis, we give their thinking brain time to catch up to their emotional state. Those create moments when you can save a life just by listening.
- Stacy Ashton, Executive Director
Interview Expertise
We are available for interviews on the following topics:
- Distress intervention, mental health and suicide prevention in British Columbia
- Community-based education and training equiping individuals and communities to respond to and support individuals in crisis or considering suicide
- The impact volunteer engagement and capacity building has on equipping a broad spectrum of communities and professionals to respond to distress and suicide
Contacts
Jeffrey Preiss
Manager, Development and Communications
jpreiss@crisiscentre.bc.ca
Stacy Ashton
Executive Director
sashton@crisiscentre.bc.ca