Researchers at CAMH also found that one in three Canadians have sought support from a helpline at some point in their lives, either for themselves or on behalf of someone else. 

By Jermaine WilsonStaff ReporterNearly one year after launching Canada’s new suicide crisis helpline 988, responders revealed they answer on average more than 29,000 calls and texts each month, prompting a nationwide survey to better understand the ongoing mental health crisis.
The researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) who led the study, which comes during Suicide Prevention Month, also oversee the operations for 988. 
Each year, approximately 4,500 Canadians die by suicide, and more than 200 people attempt it every day, the researchers said. Since launching the service at the end of last November, 988 has grown into a crucial helpline for those in distress across the country. 



The researchers also found that one in three Canadians have sought mental health support from a helpline at some point in their lives, either for themselves or on behalf of someone else, and are launching new resources this month to help combat the stigma surrounding mental health. 
It’s a jarring yet raw statistic that Dr. Allison Crawford said highlights the depth of people’s needs and reinforces the critical demand for accessing mental health services.
“In the last ten years, many more people up to 30 per cent are expressing thoughts of anxiety (and) depression … rates of suicide among youth have (also) gone up,” said Crawford, the chief medical officer for 988 operations and a psychiatrist at CAMH. 
In partnership with Environics Research, Crawford said they sampled a total of 1,500 people across the country. Half of participants were part of the general population and the other half were priority groups like the LGBTQ, Indigenous, and Black communities.
The study also noted that while talking about suicide can be difficult, Canadians for the most part have a “relatively high level of literacy” about the subject.



Crawford said “most people these days don’t tend to think that people who have attempted suicide or who die by suicide are inherently bad or weak.”
While most Canadians generally show low levels of stigma, researchers found that those experiencing high levels of distress tend to have the lowest rates of literacy about suicide and the highest degrees of stigma.
Crawford “absolutely” believes there’s still more work to be done in terms of advocacy.
“It’s journey to understand the unique needs of people across the country,” she said. 
As part of Suicide Prevention Month, the helpline is providing resources such as a conversation guide comprising of 50 questions to help people open up and share their stories. The guide is designed to be used with both friends and family.

​

Siobhan Morris , CTV News Toronto Queen’s Park Bureau Chief & Videojournalist
@siomoCTV

Published Tuesday, September 10, 2024 3:59PM EDT
Ontario education workers and the opposition NDP are calling on the Ford government to address growing violence in the Ontario’s schools.
A survey done for the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) last year found 77 per cent of union members had either experienced or witnessed violence.
Educational assistant Monica Melo-Manhsinh says the number of incidents have climbed over the last eight years, and the problems have deepened since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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"I have been kicked, punched, spit on, pushed into objects, had objects such as pieces of furniture thrown at me, bit, and in recent years, I've even been lifted off the ground by my neck," Melo-Manhsinh told reporters at Queen's Park Tuesday.
She says the damage to herself and her colleagues is physical, mental, and sometimes life-altering, taking surgery to repair. Once part of a team of nine, Melo-Manhsinh says budget cuts have reduced that number to just two.
New Democrats are urging the government to set up what they have dubbed an "Emergency Safe Schools Plan" that includes:

• Hiring more staff including mental health workers, educational assistants and child and youth workers
• Funding for training
• A permanent working group on education sector violence
• A province-wide reporting system for incidents of violence
• An education sector regulation in the Occupational Health and Safety Act

NDP Education Critic Chandra Pasma says her party will move a motion, asking the government to adopt those changes when the legislature reconvenes next month.
She explains that the reduction in staff has meant educators aren't getting the one-on-one time with students they used to.
"They would know the triggers. They would see the student becoming agitated. They would be able to intervene to get the child out of that situation, or to take a body break to calm them down," Pasma said.
Schools are also seeing "spillover" from challenges away from school grounds. On Monday, a teenage boy was grazed in the head by a bullet in the parking lot of a Scarborough high school.
Pasma says a lack of access to youth programming, recreation programs, employment, and autism therapies are part of the problem.
"When there's no support in the community, no support in the health care system, then the school becomes the only form of support. And so these kids are becoming frustrated because the teachers, the education workers, the mental health professionals, child and youth workers, they don't have the time and the capacity to deal with every single problem that's not being dealt with outside the school," she said.
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, a spokersperson for the Ministry of Education said students and staff members "deserve to be safe and learn in positive school environments."
"For the 2024/25 school year we’ve provided school boards with $29 billion in education funding that includes $123 million to support schools in the implementation of programs, and initiatives on student safety, as well as critical safety infrastructure funding for security upgrades. Since 2018, we’ve increased student mental health supports by 577% and added an additional 900 education workers across the province. We have and we will continue to increase funding in education every single year of our mandate," the spokesperson noted.