Young Calgarians lend listening ear to teens in distress
CBC
This is Part 5 of a five-part series looking at the state of youth mental health in Calgary.
Calgary teenagers share their daily struggles and darkest thoughts with the young volunteers at the Distress Centre's teen hotline, ConnecTeen. In return, those volunteers offer an empathetic ear and hope for the future.
"You really just have to meet that person where they are and really support them through whatever it is they're going through," said volunteer Fiza Rajput.
The free confidential service is available 24 hours a day. About 40 volunteers, ranging in age from 15 to 22, respond during the afternoon and evening hours. Adult volunteers from the Distress Centre cover the rest of the day.
Not surprisingly, most teens contact the hotline by text or online chat. They're much less likely to pick up the phone and call. If they do call, a translation service is available in more than 200 languages; however, that service is not available for texts or chats.
Andrea Leon, 21, signed up with ConnecTeen after she heard a presentation in school. She started volunteering at 16, hoping to learn how to help her friends.
"I used to have a lot of friends always come to me for advice," she said. "I never felt like I could really give them that much advice because I wasn't really aware of how to handle it".
Rajput, now 20, started volunteering with ConnecTeen when she was 17. One of her friends was already involved and she was impressed.
"I was like, 'wow, that seems really good, and that seems kind of cool.'Like you're able to really help people in life-and-death situations."
The conversations do often begin in dark places. Teens will talk about anxiety, depression and suicide. Rajput and Leon both welcome a chance to make a difference in those moments.
"Sometimes they'll say, 'no one cares, but I feel like you do,'" said Leon, which she said is very fulfilling.
"I have been on so many chats where at the very end of the chat … they'll be like, 'hey, you know what? Thank you so much. You genuinely saved my life' or 'really kept me safe during this conversation,'" said Rajput. "I honestly feel those instances … you feel like, 'wow, I made a difference in this person's life.'"
If volunteers determine someone is at risk of suicide, they work with that person to come up with a plan to stay safe.
The volunteers don't work alone. A staff member from the Distress Centre oversees each shift. That supervisor can see and hear all of their conversations in real time and intervene and get help if needed.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.