New national help line will help people in distress immediately, local MP says

There are times when people are feeling upset or depressed slip through the cracks.

They may call a distress line, but are told to leave a message rather than getting to speak to someone right away.

AndKitchener-ConestogaConservative MP HaroldAlbrecht said that's not good enough.

"The big thing is that when someone calls we don't want them to get an answering machine,"Albrechtsaid. "We want someone there who can direct that call to another personas oppose to simply a message that's left and potentially not returnedearly enough."

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Albrectintroduced a bill calling for a national framework for suicide prevention, whichbecame law four years ago.

Though it's taken some time, a report addressing the national help line will come to Parliament before their deadline this December.

Albrechtsaid hewas inspired by the work of local mental health and addiction hotlines in the region andwanted to implement something similar across the country.

"We have individual communities across the country that do good work," he said. "But in between those communities there are gaps and I would like to see those gaps filled."

A constant need for the community

Here 24/7 is the local distress line for Waterloo Region that receive calls from those in crisis andfrom those seeking help with mental health and addiction.

Meredith Gardiner, director of Here 24/7, told CBC's The Morning Edition host Craig Norristhat"the story of Here 24/7 is the story of the need in our community."

Since they opened up their services in 2014, Gardiner said she has been astonished with the high number of calls they receive. On average, they receivemore than 4,000 calls a month.

"We accepted a little over 51,000 calls ... last fiscal year," she said. "Our call volume in the beginning was quite high and we anticipated that over time it would lower but it hasn't. It'smaintained that volume."

She addedhaving a national distress line would benefit everyone no matter where they live. It would also facilitate the process of finding the right services as the system can sometimesbe difficult to navigate.