Question Period Note: 9-8-8

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• People across Canada can now call or text 9-8-8 to have access to 24/7, bilingual, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate suicide prevention support.
• Canadians need timely access to suicide prevention – they need to know they are not alone; someone is there to help.
• Budget 2023 announced $177 million over 3 years to launch and implement 9-8-8, a three-digit number for suicide prevention and emotional distress.
• The Helpline is available to everyone in Canada via voice and text, 24/7, 365 days a year, in both English and French.
• The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is leading the initiative and has recruited 39 provincial and local crisis and distress lines to the 9-8-8 network.
• In February 2024, 9-8-8 received over 700 phone calls and 400 texts per day.
o If you are thinking about suicide, or worried about someone thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8, at any time.
o To anyone who is struggling: you are not alone, help is available.
o 988 is meant to be a crisis line, it does not replace psychotherapy or other mental health care. Mental health and the ongoing supports are needed beyond that moment of crisis.
If pressed on funding
• Budget 2023 announced $177 million over 3 years to support the launch and implementation of 9-8-8.
• Of this investment, the Public Health Agency of Canada is providing $177 million over three years to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to support the implementation and operation of 9-8-8.
• The remaining $2.4 million over three years is allocated to PHAC to cover costs related to the oversight, administration, reporting, and evaluation activities associated with 9-8-8.
If pressed on how calls and texts are routed
• Calls and texts to the 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline are routed based on area codes to 9-8-8 partner crisis and distress lines. Calls and texts will be answered as close to home as possible in the official language selected.
• The intention with 9-8-8 is to minimize disruption by leveraging existing service delivery models, where possible.
• Some specialized lines, like Kids Help Phone and Hope For Wellness, are part of the 9-8-8 network and may offer tailored support to youth and First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
If pressed on privacy and confidentiality

• People calling or texting 9-8-8 are not required to share personal information with responders. While phone numbers may be visible to responders, location information is not tracked through 9-8-8. All responders are required to sign confidentiality agreements.
• Calls and texts may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes and for the safety of both the caller or texter, and the 9-8-8 responder.
• Only aggregated, non-identifiable, data will be shared with the Government of Canada and third-parties for monitoring and reporting purposes.
If pressed on police services
• If a caller is at imminent risk of seriously harming oneself or others, there is an established protocol for transferring a 9-8-8 call to emergency services.
• Responders are trained to de-escalate a crisis and the majority of calls and texts placed to 9-8-8 will not require an emergency intervention. For example, only 3% of calls placed to Talk Suicide Canada required emergency intervention.
• CAMH continues to engage with emergency services and law enforcement stakeholders on improvements to crisis response coordination and protocols.
If pressed on monitoring, reporting, and data
• The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will regularly share key metrics with the Public Health Agency of Canada as part of their reporting requirements, including service volumes and wait times.
• Thousands of Canadians have reached out to 9-8-8 for support since it launched. In February 2024, wait times averaged 18 seconds for phone calls and approximately 1 ½ minutes for texts.

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