If it feels like a crisis to you, we urge you to call. You know best whether you are feeling overwhelmed and feeling that you just can’t cope on your own. The professionals of the Child, Youth and Family Crisis Line for Eastern Ontario are here to help you if you can’t cope or if you feel alone with nowhere to turn. If you feel you are facing a crisis, call the Crisis Line. We will help figure out how critical the situation may be and what the next steps are.
Young people call crisis lines for many reasons. You may feel scared or sad and find your feelings overwhelming. You may be thinking about harming yourself or someone else. You may feel that you can’t cope with something that has happened in your life and don’t know where to turn for help.
Your call to the Crisis Line will be answered by a caring crisis professional that has the specialized expertise to help young people in crisis. The person who answers the phone may connect you with another professional right away or at a later time, depending on your needs. When people call the Crisis Line, they will reach a trained and caring crisis professional with the specialized expertise to help young people in crisis and their families.
We encourage you to identify yourself so that we can make sure that we offer you the right help, refer you to another organization in your community, and follow up with you after the first call, if required. You are not required to give us your name but we are limited in the kind of help we can provide you if you don’t tell us who you are and provide basic information about yourself. By identifying yourself, you are helping us to give you the best possible help. If you want to talk to someone who will listen and provide you with support, without giving your name, that is fine.
When you call the Crisis Line, the crisis professional who will answer your call will explain to you why they need information about you and how it will be used.
The kind of information that you will be asked to provide is your name, address, phone numbers, language Email address, gender and date of birth.
With your consent, your personal information will be shared with other children’s agencies which have been brought in to help you, after your initial contact with the Crisis Line.
Children of the age of 12 and older do not require parental consent to receive confidential counseling services. Children under 12 will require the consent of a parent/guardian in order to access confidential counseling. There are situations when we do not need your consent to share information and these are when you tell us that you or somebody under the age of 16 is being hurt by somebody else. If you tell us that you are thinking of harming yourself, we will have to tell somebody to ensure your safety. Also if you tell us that you are going to harm somebody or share information that somebody is going to be harmed we must take action. In these cases we do not need you to give us consent to share that information.
That depends on the nature of your crisis. You and the Crisis worker will determine the level of help you need, which can include immediate support, or contacting your local service agency the next day.
Help may include:
If there is a children’s mental health agency or other agency serving children and youth that you know about in your area, you may call that agency during its normal business hours (usually between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.) For example, you may already be receiving services from a specific agency and may want to contact that agency if it is during the daytime, Monday to Friday. If you don’t know who to call, call the Crisis line to help direct your call.
If you are feel you are in a crisis during the evening hours or on the weekends, call the Crisis Line. Many agencies aren’t available to help you outside normal business hours and that is why the Crisis Line has been set up. It is available to provide you with support and help in a crisis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Yes. The purpose of the Crisis Line is help children and youth in crisis but we recognize that sometimes young people are afraid to call for help or may not even understand that they are in crisis. That’s why this Crisis Line is also here to help parents and guardians who are concerned about a child or teenager. If, as a parent, you are yourself overwhelmed and feel that you are facing a crisis because of a problem with your child, you are also encouraged to call the Crisis Line.
Call 911 or go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.
Call 911.
