On Prince Edward Island, Canada, it is only advisable to despair between 9 A.M. and 5 P.M., Monday thru Friday. After business hours and on weekends, you’re going to be on your own:
"A Canadian province will shut its 24-hour suicide hotline and replace it with one that operates only during business hours.
"Prince Edward Island, a small province on Canada’s East Coast, says it is too expensive to operate the hotline around the clock. Starting June 1, it will be open only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
"The plan drew protest from mental health groups across the country on Wednesday.
"’How many times, when you get upset or worried or concerned about things, is it in the middle of the day? It’s usually at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning when you wake up,’ said Joan Wright, executive director of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention based in Edmonton, Alberta."
You would think the numbers-crunchers on Prince Edward Island could have cut some other non-critical service enough to use that money to keep the suicide hotline open 24/7. But, then, common sense doesn’t appear to have played a factor in this decision.
For quite a while, PEI had a gambling-addiction hotline, but the number given out was actually a hotline here in Nova Scotia.
They probably based this decision on the low call volumes received at the gambling line!
PEI is also notable for having published 1-800 tourism numbers twice in recent memory that were actually sex lines, so they’re not doing too well with the newfangled telephone technology in general.
Putting on my small-government, (small L) libertarian hat – why can’t the mental health groups take up the slack?
Why should the government be in this business anyway?
Over here (in England) we have ‘The Samaritans’, a voluntary organisation funded by public donations. Contact can be made via phone or in person. It’s an invaluable service. Mental Health Care is seriously overlooked and underfunded and seriously stigmatised…and without that resource I’m certain that the suicide stats would be far higher than they are.
The other point I wish to make is that a 24 hour help line isn’t just for serious depressives with a suicidal intent…it can be used by the isolated, bereaved, abused, financially crippled etc…I have even known mothers who have been so distraught by their daughters’ behaviour, that they have telephoned the Samaritans in desperation and just to have a jolly good cry about it all!
Not everyone has a friend or family member to talk to. Such helplines shouldn’t be optional…they are a lifeline…they can make the difference between a person choosing to wake up the next morning or to do something that ensures that they do not.
God Bless.
This is probably an economy of scale problem. I’d suggest making a national hotline. Solves a bunch of smaller problems that way. Bonus points if its handled by a charity rather than the government.
If you just need to talk, you don’t want to talk to somebody who’s being paid to talk to you. Volunteers are the way to go.