My name is Denise Rennie and I am a Crisis Line Volunteer in Campbell River.

I am a highly trained volunteer of 20 years on the crisis line. I give emotional support to frequent callers, many are mentally handicapped or suicidal. I am but one of many concerned volunteers in regards to fund cutting.

We received over 3,500 calls in 2008 /2009 on the Campbell River Crisis Line. We are the after-hours emergency number for many of our community partners. Our service area extends from Black Creek to Sayward and Gold River and includes Quadra and Cortez Islands. We also take many calls from outside our service area. We partner with other community agencies to insure callers get the support and service they need and therefore are an important part of community care. Our volunteers can take time to talk to regular callers every day and sometimes several times a day. We are an integral part of a social support network of many people who are not in crisis but are socially and physically isolated. We compliment professionally delivered services. We make a huge contribution to community capacity building.

Having completed our training sessions, volunteers go out into the community with improved interpersonal communication skills, a greater understanding of, and empathy for people living with mental health and addiction problems, a greater understanding of local social services, and well developed risk assessment skills for suicide. These volunteers then apply these skills and knowledge in all aspects of life from family, to work, to our community.

Local knowledge can save lives. We know from experience and research that people who call Crisis Lines when feeling suicidal are often ambivalent (confused) about their plans and as such may be reluctant to reveal their location. Our workers have sometimes been able to discern the callers location because of something they heard in the background or a description of a landmark. This is also true for people who may be disoriented or psychotic. This makes it possible for a volunteer to send help. Research shows that a very large percentage of callers who recieve help under these circumstances are grateful in the end. We are a part of several community groups including ASAP ( Agencies for Suicide Awareness and Prevention) the Crisis Steering Committee and ESS (Emergency Social Services) and as such are constantly updated on trends, changes to social services, and best practices.

We keep an extensive, up to date resource guide so that the information we give our callers is as accurate as possible and we also make it available to agency partners.

VIHA has announced that s of March 31 2010 they are cutting funding to all crisis lines on Vancouver Island. If you believe that we are better off as a society when we have strong community based services that provide opprtunities for one person to support another, sometimes on a daily basis, simply because they care, this is a wrong headed move.

It will weaken the tapestry that is our community.

I believe the money that went into Spirit Square could have funded the whole island. We need to get our priorities straight.

Denise Rennie