Improving economic conditions not benefiting Distress Centre Calgary
Posted Aug 9, 2010 1:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Councillors at Distress Centre Calgary are just as busy today as they were during the most recent recession.
Last year the Centre fielded 78 thousand calls for help, resulting in 53 thousand referrals.
That works out to about a call every four minutes, 24 / 7, 365 days a year.
The Centre’s Michelle Wickerson tells 660News, while call volume might be down about 10 percent from before the economic downturn, the calls are more complex and dire.
Wickerson says sadly often the calls they get are from people who are desperate including those who are contemplating suicide.
She says help is out there and people should call before a problem gets out of hand.
Her advice as to where to go to have a problem addressed is to call the city’s 2-1-1 community health and social services information line first.
This year the Calgary Distress Centre marks its 40th year of operation.
