The demand for mental health services is already increasing and local mental health support services say it's only expected to grow.
“When the pandemic started, we were getting maybe 400 to 500 calls per month, and now we’re receiving on average, 1,200 to 1,300 calls per month,” said Joanne Young Evans, executive director of Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington.
She said FCSSGW is now seeing the effects the pandemic and the full lockdown had on people’s mental health and is also seeing an increase in highly complex individuals.
“The complexity of the stress and the strain and the anxiety that they’re undergoing is much higher than what it was going into COVID-19,” said Evans.
Evans said individual tempers have really soared, particularly in men, leading them to create Managing Difficult Emotions, an emotional regulation group created specifically for men having trouble managing their emotions as a result of isolation.
The group was created using emergency funding through United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin emergency and will take place over the next several weeks.
Evan’s said the 13 people in the first session include referrals from Family and Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington County (FCSGW), Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington and Probation and Parole Services.
“Just men who are beginning to lose a little bit of control. Everybody is a little tense, everyone's a little stressed,” said Evans.
To combat the growing need for mental health services, FCSSGW increased the number of volunteers responding to the distress line which is now fully functional from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
“We have over 90 volunteers now and we’re receiving up to 1,300 calls per month,” said Evans.
“There’s always someone at the end of the line now.”
FCSSGW is offering face to face and virtual services and they also added an additional walk-in clinic in Harriston via United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin emergency COVID funding.
“We knew we had to have everything available particularly if we shut down again and there are some people who still want to see us face to face but then there are other people who are waiting to see us face-to-face either because of the home situation or a lack of technology,” said Evans.
“So we had to be prepared for that.”
She said the team is hoping they don’t have to shut their doors again because many people want to access services in person.
Evans said people don’t always want to access virtual services when they are undergoing severe trauma. And for some women, in particular, it might be dangerous for them to work from home.
“Because then the partner that they’re with will hear everything that’s going on and so they can’t or because of the children and they don’t have any private space to be able to talk and to speak truthfully about what's happening in the home and get some assistance,” said Evans.
She said youth are particularly struggling.
“They’re telling us they are tired of doing things virtually. They want to be in person, it's difficult for them to be on zoom or by phone. They want to see people face to face,” said Evans.
“We really need to be there for our youth and we need to be there for our families, we need to be there for women in vulnerable situations.”
“For us to get locked down particularly in the holidays, if that happens over Christmas, we need to be prepared with our staff and with our community.”
Evans said there's a large waiting list for mental health services in Puslinch, Guelph and Wellington and those are the people agencies know about, meaning there are people out there who the agencies don’t know about.
Evans said other community organizations such as The Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington, Guelph Family Health Team and The Guelph Community Health Centre are all at capacity.
She said with the weather changing and the restrictions placed on gatherings while the holiday season approaches, it's become especially challenging to address the growing need for mental health services.
“We’re doing the best that we can but were quite concerned with the level of mental health challenges in the community with our residents,” said Evans.
