By Jack Clark

9-8-8

Canadian Mental Health Association celebrates suicide prevention hotline approval

Sep 1, 2022 | 5:14 PM

PRINCE GEORGE- Over 600 days after the motion was approved in a unanimous vote, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has approved a national three-digit suicide prevention hotline. A motion first brought forward by local MP Todd Doherty.

” It was very emotional. I mean, I get emotional even now. Just thinking about it was an emotional day, and the messages that I’ve received in the last 24 hours are just so powerful that it’s hard not to be moved to tears,” said Doherty.

“It means when you’re in crisis, you don’t have to Google to find out what’s the ten digit number, what’s closest in my area,” said Margaret Eaton, the National CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

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One of the primary goals of the hotline is to remove a critical barrier for those in crisis.

“As I sit with you today, I don’t. I can’t. That number is not on the tip of my tongue. And it’s not, you know, in your mental Rolodex,” said Doherty.

The 9-8-8 Suicide Prevention line will be implemented on November 20th, 2023, Which is 14 months from today. In that time, Both Doherty and the Canadian Mental Health Association knew that there is still a lot of work to be done.

“We want to make sure that there are professional, highly trained staff ready and waiting to take that call across the country,” said Eaton.

Doherty said in a statement and believed that help should only be three digits away.