NEED2 Supporting Documentation for Funding Support

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

Crisis Intervention and Public Information Society of Greater Victoria has been serving residents of the Greater Victoria region since 1971. Doing business as NEED Crisis and Information Line, NEED operated the local crisis line until 2010 when Island Health, its key funder, consolidated all crisis lines of Vancouver Island into one centre in Nanaimo. At that time, NEED evaluated the needs of the Greater Victoria community and saw that there was still a need for mental health and suicide-related education, as well as support for youth in particular. As a result, the organization rebranded as NEED2 Suicide Prevention Education & Support and oriented its focus primarily towards youth.

Since 1996, NEED had been developing and delivering suicide prevention and community education services. After the rebranding, the established educational program (Suicide Education & Awareness) was kept, along with the organization’s new (piloted in 2008) digital crisis line for youth (Youthspace.ca). Today, these programs are still in operation, serving thousands of young people throughout Greater Victoria. In the wake of the loss of funding in 2010, local municipalities stepped up with funding to assist the organization; this revenue continues to be an important area of support for the organization, as we can use the municipal funding as leverage while requesting support from the provincial government as well as local foundations.

We are the only agency in the CRD that has a focus on suicide education and prevention. We know that there is much room for program development and we believe that there is a vital need for programs which will help provide a continuum of preventive and intervention services for youth and others in the CRD and help break the silence around suicide and depression in our community. We continue to innovate, and have recently added a “Follow-Up” component to the service offered on Youthspace.ca in order to offer additional safety and care to those youth deemed to be at risk of suicide and/or self-injury.

Youth are affected by a complex array of social and emotional issues to which some respond with high degrees of anxiety and despair and a sense of helplessness. Unfortunately, in some cases suicide is seen as the only way out. We would like to ensure that someone responds or reaches out to the majority of youth and young adults who are considering suicide, and in so doing prevent premature deaths. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with so many of us stuck feeling isolated, anxious and fearful, mental health support and preventative measures such as ours are critical.

MISSION AND VISION

Vision Statement:

Caring communities without suicide.

Mission Statement:

We work every day to prevent deaths by suicide through our community programs and our online presence. We provide accessible emotional and crisis support by engaging the community and advancing the dialogue.

STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS

Paid Staff (7.0 FTE)

• Acting Executive Director/Operations Manager: Maria Weaver
• Clinical Coordinator: Julia Leggett
• Suicide Education and Awareness Manager: Renata Hindle
• Youthspace.ca Coordinator: Daria Patterson
• Administrative and Communications Assistant: Emma White
• Program Facilitators: Izzy Dehler-Hyde, Justin Robertson, Nicky Nicholas, Nat Karpovskaia, Krysta Gmitroski, Serena Martin, Max Krauss, Sive Emo, Cheryl Love, Rae Bandla, Noah Stewart, Emily Hadley, Heather Kwan, Jennifer Wardle, Sasha Goatley

Volunteers

The Youth Suicide Prevention Program has over 120 active volunteers.*

*Due to the sheer number of volunteers who will be assisting with this program, names have not been listed but are available upon request.

THE ISSUE: SUICIDE AND YOUTH IN GREATER VICTORIA

As the local Greater Victoria charity with a focus on preventing youth and young adult suicide, NEED2 has the unenviable task of continually talking about an issue loaded with stigma and silence. Despite the fact that suicide impacts so many, it remains an issue that most people want to avoid in their conversations.

Suicide remains the leading cause of injury-related death among the 12-24 age group. Shockingly, children as young as eight years old have completed suicide in BC¹. According to research by the Public Health Agency of Canada, for every 1 suicide death, there are 5 self-inflicted injury hospitalizations, 25-30 suicide attempts, and 7-10 people profoundly affected by suicide loss¹. In Southern Vancouver Island, 18% of youth report having seriously considered suicide in the past year². At the same time, 19% of youth in Southern Vancouver Island also reported missing out on needed mental health services². Prevention programs and early intervention do work by saving lives. Through NEED2 programs and services, youth receive timely help, making them aware that help is available and that it is possible to survive dark times.

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¹ BC Vital Statistics Agency, Youth Suicide Death Review Panel Report (2018) ² McCreary Centre Society, BC Adolescent Health Survey (2018)

OUR SOLUTION: THE YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM (YSPP)

As a cohort, youth are identified as being vulnerable and a high risk group for a number of harmful behaviours and activities. We would like to ensure that someone responds or reaches out to the majority of youth and young adults who are considering suicide, and in so doing prevent premature deaths. NEED2’s Youth Suicide Prevention Program is made up of 3 initiatives: Suicide Education and Awareness (SEA), Mindfulness for Middle Schools (MMS) and Youthspace.ca (YS).

1) Suicide Education & Awareness

The Suicide Education & Awareness (SEA) program provides suicide prevention education to youth in classrooms or community groups. The workshops are facilitated by highly trained and supported volunteers and staff. The training that presenters receive includes Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), a world-recognized suicide intervention training. As a result, the presenters have a high level of comfort discussing the difficult topic of suicide, with a focus on encouraging dialogue, as suicide and depression gain strength in silence. Presentations focus on recognizing warning signs, checking in and asking, and connecting to support resources for both the youth in crisis and the helper-friend.

At the end of each class, in the post-presentation survey, students have the opportunity to identify themselves and indicate whether they want to be contacted because they are concerned about themselves or a friend (this information is given to the school counselors who have committed to follow-up)— one in fourteen students are indicating that they want help and it’s not uncommon for a youth to be identified who was “flying under the radar”.

NEED2 has adopted the Whole Schools approach, whereby we partner with schools and provide SEA presentations to every class in a single grade cohort. In the 2019-2020 school year over 2200 students in the Greater Victoria area were reached through SEA. This year, we are offering the option of delivering SEA presentations virtually, to allow for a remote option compliant with COVID-19 regulations.

2) Mindfulness for Middle School (MMS)

Since it was initially piloted in 2015, NEED2’s MMS program has introduced over 1800 younger middle school students and their teachers to the practice of mindfulness as a vehicle to expand mental health literacy in lower middle school grades. The program is supported by research which demonstrates the benefits of supporting the social and emotional development of young people, and was initially developed in response to the requests teachers were making for a program which could teach social emotional practices to this age group. Each class receives three hours of instruction broken into six sessions.

The intention of the program is predicated on the following concepts: It has been shown that mindfulness is a positive coping strategy for dealing with stress and anxiety. Mindfulness is a gentle and accessible practice which enables students to become self-aware, notice what is, experience how stressful events can impact emotions and how the response to those emotions impacts actions and behaviour. Mindfulness for Middle Schools workshops have had a positive impact on both individual and classroom regulation.

Following the workshop session, students are asked to fill out a survey; most students indicate that they found mindfulness to be useful. Some of the common uses they identify for their new skills include: calming down when facing test anxiety, remaining calm during conflict with siblings, and falling asleep more easily. In the 2019-2020 school year, the MMS program reached 389 students and 30 school staff in Greater Victoria.

Goals & Objectives for suicide education & awareness and Mindfulness programming

The goals of SEA and Mindfulness presentations include helping youth:

• Be able to recognize anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors in themselves and in their peers
• Respond appropriately to their troubled friends
• Know where to go for help
• Find positive ways of coping with the various stressors in life
• Engage with mindful practices and feel more able to respond with choice in difficult moments

SEA & MMS: Activity Plan

Timeline: January 2021 – December 2021

3) Youthspace.ca

NEED2 reaches many youth throughout the region through our dedicated youth crisis portal called Youthspace.ca which provides emotional support and crisis intervention through one-to-one online chats delivered by professionally trained and supported volunteers. We encourage you to take a look at the site.

Youth can reach the digital crisis line through the site at Youthspace.ca or through texting (778-783-0177). The chat service is open every night from 6pm-12am PST. Currently over 120 trained and supported volunteers actively engage with chatters on a regular basis. Last fiscal year, our volunteers responded to over 4500 chats; youth between the ages of 13-24 are the major users of the chat service.

Being online to support youth is a unique experience because they connect with us anonymously and on their own terms. We never come to know their names or their faces but they all come to us needing help. For some we are the first people they have reached out to, others are already connected to social workers, counsellors and other "health professionals". Yet, according to the youth who chat with us, these professionals often don’t hear the full story. Youth often share with us that they feel too judged by the people in their lives to admit that they are considering suicide, or are harming themselves; or to talk about their mental illness or the abuse they are experiencing. By providing a safe, online service to access support, we meet the needs of youth to talk about their feelings and experiences without judgement. We provide a lifeline for young people who may not otherwise get help – we validate the unique experiences of youth, and work with them to assess risk and develop a safety plan that works for them.

The services provided through Youthspace.ca increase protective factors by providing a sense of affiliation, increasing help seeking and connection to a network of appropriate local supports, supporting youth who are struggling with health (mental and physical) concerns and addictions, increasing early intervention and connection to appropriate supports/ services, and enhancing overall resilience. It provides a safe and accepting space, supporting the development of healthier coping strategies in the lives of individual users. The support provided by Youthspace.ca mitigates risk by reducing harmful coping behaviours, by reducing isolation, by reducing the severity and negative impact of situational crises for youth, and by providing positive information.

Goals & Objectives for Youthspace.ca

The program seeks to improve the mental and emotional health, & promote the safety of youth by:

• Providing emotional support & help through crises
• Increasing willingness to seek help
• Providing bridging support to other resources
• Decreasing risk and severity of harmful coping behaviours
• Connecting youth to emergency resources in life-threatening situations
• Providing positive messaging & reliable information to promote wellness
• Build community awareness and involvement through volunteer training and engagement

Youthspace.ca Activity Plan: Jan 2021 – Dec 2021