By Canadian Press

B.C. ramps up mental health support for front-line health care workers, families

Apr 9, 2020 | 3:01 PM

VICTORIA — Two hundred psychologists in British Columbia are volunteering to provide free virtual counselling to front-line health workers as part of the province’s efforts to ramp up mental health services for anyone who needs them.

Premier John Horgan joined Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy on Thursday to announce virtual supports that he said are necessary for people struggling during the pandemic.

“We need to hang together, we need to recognize that although we may feel stress, that we may feel bouts of depression at the challenges that we face as individuals, as a family and as a community, together we can get through this,” Horgan said.

Darcy said people experiencing anxiety, loneliness and the financial stress of losing a job, caring for children out of school or fearing illness need to reach out for help while living with precautionary measures that have limited contact with others during COVID-19.

“While we know that these physical distancing measures are temporary and are in everyone’s interests it’s important to recognize the immediate and long-term impacts on people’s mental health and well-being,” she said.

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Darcy highlighted several bolstered and new initiatives being offered in B.C., including BounceBack, an online skills-building program for people with mild to moderate anxiety or depression.

“Now, very importantly, anyone can access BounceBack without a referral from a doctor. This is huge and this will help so many people in our province.”

Darcy said the B.C. Psychological Association began offering free services to front-line health care workers several days ago.

“We know what kind of stress front-line health care workers are under — the fear of the disease itself, the stress of caring for patients, what this means for their mental health, what it means for their families, the isolation they experience,” she said in an interview.

Virtual resources from a mobile response team for people working on the front lines of the overdose crisis have also been ramped up, Darcy said, adding the focus will be on paramedics and those in small community agencies where people lack access to extended benefits or counselling.

“These are for the front-line workers dealing with stress and trauma,” she said of those who in the past would often have received debriefings, support and counselling.

“It’s in the tens of thousands (of people) that they’ve supported in hundreds of locations around the province,” she said of paramedics.

In May, a virtual peer-support service will be provided for workers in long-term care homes and those who provide home support, Darcy said. Work is also underway with the Canadian Mental Health Association and unions for peers to learn “psychological first aid,” she said.

Youth between the ages of 12 and 24 can also get access to virtual support to counselling as well as substance use and primary-care services starting on April 24, Darcy said.

Community counselling agencies around the province will provide services in 24 languages, she said.

Finance Minister Carole James said on Thursday that 132,000 jobs were lost in the province in March due to COVID-19, pushing the unemployment rate over seven per cent.

She said she expects the numbers for April to be even worse.

— By Camille Bains in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2020

The Canadian Press