Quebec kids' helpline sounds alarm over rising mental health calls

Operators of a Quebec phone line that helps young people in distress say they have been fielding more calls lately and are sounding the alarm.

"We are facing a widespread societal problem: young people are increasingly in distress, and this distress is appearing at a younger and younger age," said Tel-Jeunes in a news release.

Tel-Jeunes, which has served the province since 1991, says 40 per cent of all its calls are related to mental health issues, and there has also been a spike in the number of youth contemplating suicide.

The phone service helped 30,000 young people in 2024, and executive director Annie Papageorgiou said 15 per cent of them had suicidal thoughts. That's nearly twice as many as in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"You can really tell that the calls we're getting are increasingly from people who are not doing well," she said, adding that those callers are desperately seeking help. She noted many are very young.

Papageorgiou said more children between the ages of six and 11 are calling Tel-Jeunes these days. The number of calls from that age group has hit more than 1,000 — three times as many as five years ago.

Mike Boyes, a developmental psychologist with the University of Calgary, said part of the problem is related to technology and pandemic isolation.

He said an increasing number of young children have access to phones and social media.

"And that may be contributing to some of this," said Boyes. "But again, the bigger picture, I think, has to do with the impact that the social isolation of COVID had on them from a developmental perspective."

Besides mental health issues, callers are trying to cope with stress, performance anxiety, bullying and questions about sexuality and friendship.

"Front-line services like Tel-Jeunes are a concrete and essential solution to the increasing distress among adolescents. We need to encourage young people to seek help more quickly," said Papageorgiou in a news release.

In that news release, the organization cites a report Sainte-Justine Hospital sent to Quebec's coalition of psychologists in 2023. It says the number of young people waiting for a consultation with a psychologist at the hospital increased by 325 per cent between 2019-20 and 2022-23, from 106 to 405.

Papageorgiou said Tel-Jeunes is under more pressure this year because of a shortage of psychologists and psychiatrists in the public system. She hopes to meet with Quebec's social services minister to discuss the issue as soon as possible.

CBC News reached out to the ministry for comment but has not heard back.