As the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of society, the Crisis Centre for Northern BC (CCNBC) says it’s also noticed an uptick in the number of people accessing its services.
“We have been pushed to grow,” says Riley Skinner, program coordinator for CCNBC.
He says the crisis centre is also a part of a Canada-wide service, which has also noticed an increase across the country.
In response, the CCNBC is looking to recruit a new intake of volunteers to help meet the demand and serve the community, aiming to put together a new training group to begin Aug. 14.
“What we do is we offer neutral non-judgmental peer support. We aren’t counsellors but we are trained listeners, so a big part of that is being there for people who don’t have a listening ear — Maybe they don’t have a family doctor, maybe they don’t have a counsellor, maybe they don’t have supports in their life and we can be that support for them,” explains Skinner.
He says CCNBC also acts as a resource hub for the north.
“A lot of people might not know what resources are out there and small communities might not have those resources available in their communities so we can help them connect to resources in neighbouring communities or we can help them connect to resources they can access remotely or help them access resources they might not be able to find another way.”
New volunteers will be trained as crisis-line responders, who will be answering the phones and helping people with suicide intervention, peer support and offering resources when needed.
“We are looking for people who are passionate about this kind of work,” says Skinner.
“It is a very selfless line of work and we are looking for people who want to maybe develop skills or who want to give back to the community or help people in need. It’s kind of intense work at times so someone who is genuinely interested in it is definitely a plus.”
The volunteer training will occur remotely during a two-week period, followed by a practical-training period that includes shadow shifts and practice calls.
“That’s until someone is comfortable enough to operate on their own and that is kind of dependent on them but it’s normally a two-week span as well give or take,” says Skinner.
Because of the pandemic, CCNBC has also had to operate remotely these past few months, but, since the beginning of July, has recently transitioned to a hybrid model of operations.
“We now have remote responders as well as responders coming into the office to use our space socially distanced which has been really nice for morale and we are happy to have everyone back and kind of get back into the family dynamic that we have.”
If you are interested in becoming a crisis-line volunteer for the Crisis Centre for Northern BC, you can contact Program Coordinator Riley Skinner ([email protected]) for more information and an application package.
If you or someone you know is struggling you can contact the crisis line 24/7 at 1-888-562-1214 or visit www.crisis-centre.ca for more resources.
