{"id":37902,"date":"2017-10-14T15:37:51","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T21:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=37902"},"modified":"2017-10-14T15:38:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T21:38:33","slug":"sait-after-hours-crisis-line-now-linked-to-distress-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/10\/14\/sait-after-hours-crisis-line-now-linked-to-distress-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"SAIT after-hours crisis line now linked to Distress Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

S<\/span>tudents at SAIT now have access to 24-hour Mental Health Support thanks to Student Development and Counselling Services’ new partnerships with the Distress Centre and Wood\u2019s Homes Community Resource Team.<\/p>\n

L<\/span>ois Hayward, supervisor of Student Development and Counselling Services<\/a>, discussed the details of the program and partnerships in an interview.<\/p>\n

The Student Development and Counselling Services office is in room AA205 in the Heritage Hall building.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, with our services, although we have some evening hours,”said Hayward, “we are not 24\/7, and [recognize] students sometimes need to talk to someone at another hour of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently when a student calls Student Development and Counselling Services after hours, they will be directed to a voice messaging system prompting them to connect with a counsellor from the Wood\u2019s Homes Community Resource Team<\/a> (available until 11 p.m.), or a volunteer at the Distress Centre<\/a> (available 24\/7 and in 200 languages).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the 24-Hour Mental Health Support line is beneficial because students’ schedules are sometimes too hectic to get help from Alberta Health Services because of their limited hours, or waiting lists,\u201d Maria Serpico, a first-year petroleum engineering technology student, said.<\/p>\n

Student Development and Counselling Services has always promoted and worked with these organizations, but the problem was people have had to write down the number or they had to reference business cards given to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to just really take another step forward with those partnerships,\u201d said Hayward.<\/p>\n

Last year the University of Calgary approached Hayward and mentioned that they would be the first post-secondary institution in Alberta to pilot the program.<\/p>\n

Due to the success of the pilot program, the Distress Centre, Wood\u2019s Homes and Hayward started to work together to bring the program to life at SAIT.<\/p>\n

U of C, SAIT and now Mount Royal University are currently working together to have the 24-Hour crisis support in place at all three institutions.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Crisis Conundrum Solved:<\/strong>Lois Hayward, M.Sc., R. Psych., poses for a portrait in her office within the Student Development and Counselling Services office, AA205, Heritage Hall. She discussed SAIT’s partnerships with the Distress Centre and Wood’s Homes Community Resource Team. (Photo by Christina Freudenthaler\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hayward attended a meeting recently that involved these institutions and the 24-Hour Mental Health Support line.<\/p>\n

She learned that the Distress Centre and Wood\u2019s Homes Community Resource Team will be provided information specific to each institution.<\/p>\n

The goal is to help prepare these counsellors and volunteers, so they can better understand the type of student they are speaking to.<\/p>\n

In regards to SAIT, counsellors and volunteers could be speaking with a student in a fast-track program, an apprenticeship program, or continuing education.<\/p>\n

Due to the variety of programs and courses available at SAIT, a student\u2019s academic experience is going to be different compared to a university student.<\/p>\n

Having access to the 24-hour support line connects students with the multitude of services available through the Distress Centre and Wood\u2019s Homes, including Mobile Response Teams, Online Support, and Crisis Support.<\/p>\n

Woods Homes also has a free, walk-in, single-session counselling clinic called Eastside Family Centre<\/a>\u00a0which is open Monday to Saturday at Northgate Village Mall.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur services, although we have some evening hours…are not 24\/7, and [we recognize] students sometimes need to talk to someone at another hour of the day.\u201d – Lois Hayward<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in crisis and really having difficulty, yes it\u2019s really important to reach out, but sometimes you just need to talk to someone,\u201d said Hayward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a real misnomer about people thinking that it has to be a certain thing, or that a counsellor\u2019s going to tell you what to do. No, it\u2019s really about helping you [talk about it]. We facilitate the problem solving process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24-Hour Mental Health Support is now available to SAIT students thanks to Student Development and Counselling Services new partnerships with the Distress Centre and Wood\u2019s Homes Community Resource Team. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":388,"featured_media":37914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 After Hours Crisis Support","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1109,1106,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life","8":"category-mental-health","9":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","10":"category-campus-2","11":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37902"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38473,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37902\/revisions\/38473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}