News

Agentic Communications Tweets for a Cause!

Inspired by Bell’s Let’s Talk Campaign, Agentic Communications Inc. will be involved in an online awareness and fundraising campaign via Twitter, “Modern Anxieties” (www.modernanxieties.com). Agentic will be tweeting an amusing technology-related modern anxiety (i.e. lack of e-mail syndrome, GPS mistrust anxiety, etc.) every day, leading up to the campaign day on February 8th, 2012. All proceeds of up to $1000 from every share of their website/video/tweets will be donated to the Crisis Centre!

If you’d like to get involved in this campaign, please check out the official Twitter pages for Agentic and the Crisis Centre – we will also be posting updates via Facebook:

Twitter handle for Agentic Communications’ Modern Anxieties campaign: @TehWorryBot, hashtag #ModernAnxieties
Twitter handle for The Crisis Centre: @crisiscentrebc
The Crisis Centre Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/crisiscentrebc

For any further questions, please contact Stephanie Cardwell at scardwell@crisiscentre.bc.ca.

The Crisis Centre Announces the Pilot of the Seniors’ Distress Line 604-872-1234

The Seniors’ Distress Line will be piloted in the City of Vancouver, effective December 2011. This is a free and confidential telephone support service for seniors, their caregivers and anyone else in the community who is concerned about a senior.

Highly trained volunteers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide callers with emotional support, information on community resources and help working through a problem. As one of the very few services available 24 hours a day, the Seniors’ Distress Line represents a vital part of the continuum of services for vulnerable seniors in our community.

For further information please check out the Crisis Centre’s Older Adult programming.

For further information regarding the  Seniors’ Distress Line, please contact our office at: 604-872-1811 or e-mail: info@crisiscentre.bc.ca

January 2012 ASIST Workshop News

The Crisis Centre will again be offering an ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) workshop on January 19th and 20th, 2012. 

Suitable for anyone in contact with individuals at potential risk for suicide, this workshop will provide participants with the skills needed to successfully intervene on behalf of those at risk.

The workshop will be facilitated by Lu Ripley and Judy (Davies) North.

Please note that participation in the two complete workshop days is required.

Click here for a downloadable poster, and here for the workshop registration form.

Crisis Centre receives $65,000 grant from Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health

The Crisis Centre was named one of 32 recipients of the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health’s 2010 funding.   The $65,000 grant will allow the Crisis Centre to improve the capacity of our distress services by equipping the program with reliable, sustainable and up-to-date phone equipment, database management systems and training tools.  With this generous support, the Crisis Centre can continue to provide life-saving support to over 45,000 people every year.

With the support of customers, employees, suppliers and the public, Canada Post has raised more than $2.5 million for the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health. The money raised goes to grassroots groups that support affected individuals, families and communities. This year, the Foundation  intends to reach even higher than we have before — our goal is to raise $2 million.  The Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health receives funds from Canadians across the country through various ways, including the purchase of a special commemorative postage stamp, participation in the annual “Delivering Hope for Mental Illness” campaign and contributions from Canada Post’s corporate customers and suppliers. Canada Post employees, both in the form of payroll deductions and a multitude of grassroots and national fundraising efforts also support the Foundation.

The Mental Health fundraising stamp is available at post offices nationwide; each booklet sold generates $1 for the Foundation. Additionally, donations can be made online, or at any post office, anytime.  Learn more at http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/aboutus/cpfoundation/default.jsf

Canada Post is now accepting submissions for the 2011 Mental Health Stamp Design Competition!  Learn more and submit designs online at http://www.deliverhope.ca/

Crisis Centre named recipient of Donner Award for Excellence

The Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC (Crisis Centre) has been named the winner of the Donner Canadian Foundation Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Education. The Crisis Centre was awarded $5,000 as the top organization in the Education category, and will compete with the six other category winners for the $20,000 William H. Donner Award for Excellence and the $5,000 Peter F. Drucker Award for non-profit management, both of which will be presented in Toronto on October 16, 2009.

The award recognizes the Crisis Centre’s community education program that delivers workshops on stress management and suicide prevention to high school students throughout the Lower Mainland and Sea-to-Sky Corridor. Since 1986, volunteers have facilitated over 8,300 classroom workshops to 210,000 teens and school personnel giving them the tools to help themselves and others deal with crisis.

At the heart of the Crisis Centre’s comprehensive suicide prevention program is a DVD called Choices2: Reaching Out (www.choices2.com), recently approved as one of the main teaching tools in the American Association of Suicidology’s safe schools program in the United States.

We are proud and thankful to be recognized by the Donner Foundation, says Ian Ross, Executive Director of the Crisis Centre. This award recognizes the work we do and the importance of creating innovative tools and approaches that are relevant to individuals in crisis.

The Donner Canadian Foundation Awards for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services (Donner Awards) are Canada’s largest recognition program for non-profit social service agencies. They recognize and encourage best practices in non-profit management and aim to increase public confidence and support for Canada’s non-profit sector.

The Crisis Centre has been a Donner Award finalist for the past eight years, winning the award for Excellence in the Delivery of Crisis Intervention in 2003 and in 2005.